Chaos in the Infernal Realm
by FablehavenFan
Summary: Seth's quest to destroy Murdred brings him back to the Demon Domain. However, the Demon God is still looking for a loyal disciple, and will stop at nothing to obtain one. Story 6 of a 9-Part Series.
1. Unsolved Mysteries

**A/N: Fablehaven belongs to Brandon Mull. I do not own any of his creations.**

**Well, here it is, the sixth story in my series! If you haven't read them yet, I insist that you check out the previous stories that I've written before you read any further, or else this story won't make much sense.**

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**Chapter 1: Unsolved Mysteries**

As the afternoon sun flickered into his eyes for a brief moment, Seth turned his head away as he continued to stroll down a serene path at Fablehaven. Walking next to him was Ingrid, the newest addition to his household.

The branches that grew above Seth and Ingrid only did a partial job of shielding them from the sun's rays. It was early in the month of May, but the leaves on the trees had not yet come into full bloom. But Seth didn't mind. As far as he was concerned, the harsh coldness of the winter season was finally over with, and for the next few months, it was only going to go uphill from this point.

"What was it that you wanted to show me, Seth?" asked Ingrid, looking at her foster brother with a pleasant smile on his face.

"We're almost there," said Seth, looking down the trail to see that it forked off in two directions just a few yards ahead from where he and Ingrid were currently walking. Soon they had reached the fork, and Seth proceeded to turn down the path to the right.

"I hope this is good," said Ingrid.

"Well, it's something that you never even knew existed. Your opinion may vary. Still, I want you to check it out."

"Seth, it feels like every day that I've been here I learn about some new creature. What's in store for me this time?"

"Oh, this isn't a creature," said Seth, smiling at Ingrid.

Before long, Seth and Ingrid had reached a greenhouse. Roughly the size of a two-car garage, an assortment of plants could be seen growing inside through the glass planes that made up the walls. Seth approached the door and pulled it open.

"After you," said Seth, holding the door open for Ingrid as she walked into greenhouse. Seth followed Ingrid inside, then closed the door behind him.

"What's this plant you wanted me to see?" asked Ingrid, gazing around at the greenery that populated the interior of the greenhouse. "Nothing in here seems unusual to me."

"This," said Seth, pointing to a small, potted bush that was sitting on the edge of a table. No larger than a basketball, the foliage the plant sported dozens of tiny, purple berries.

"What kind of plant is this?" asked Ingrid, giving the bush a close examination.

"Go on," said Seth, "taste a berry."

"Okay," said Ingrid, as his foster sister plucked a berry from the bush and proceeded to pop it into her mouth. As she began to chew the berry, a huge smile suddenly formed on her face.

"Wow! Seth, this is incredible! It tastes like candy! What kind of plant is this?"

"We're not sure. It's from a prehistoric time."

"Prehistoric?" asked Ingrid, as she she spat out a pit the size of a sesame seed. "Was this plant some sort of fossil?"

Seth laughed. "Nah! Remember how we told you about the time when we accidentally went back to the time of the dinosaurs?"

"Oh yeah. Though I find that a hard pill to swallow."

"While we were there, we discovered this now-extinct bush that sported these delicious berries! I saved a few of the seeds in hopes of regrowing the plant as a wedding gift for Warren and Clover. But, the wedding happened to soon for that to work. So instead, I'm going to give one of these plants to Warren as a birthday gift. Actually, make that Dale and I. He helped nurture the plant."

"That's so thoughtful of you," said Ingrid. "And it didn't ever cost you anything! Man, I wish I had a good gift for Warren. I know I get an allowance, but what can I buy that'll make just as good a gift as this plant?"

"Look, I can say that the plant's from you as well."

"But it's not. I played no part in discovering that plant, bringing it to the present or growing it. What's the point?"

"It's no big deal," said Seth. "Whatever you get Warren, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Right now almost anything would make him happy."

"What do you mean?"

"None of us still have any ideas as to how the Necromaster is supposed to function. Warren's been trying for weeks, but he hasn't had any success. Even Agad has taken a crack at the relic. And while he agrees that it does possess some degree of magic, he's been unable to determine just what the Necromaster's abilities even are."

"So, what's Warren so worked up about?" asked Ingrid.

"He thought figuring out the Necromaster would be easy. Now that assumption has hit him like a ton of bricks. He'll get over it. Problem is, sometimes Warren just doesn't know when to quit."

At this point, Seth and Ingrid proceeded to walk out of the greenhouse, and headed back the way they came down the dirt trail.

"Obviously the Necromaster does _something_," said Ingrid. "But where would the answer lie?"

"If you ask me," answered Seth, "it's probably somewhere within Murdred's castle. If it's anywhere at all."

"Well, if you ask me," said Ingrid, "I think we just ought to be sitting pretty. I mean, we haven't heard from Murdred since he was last here at Fablehaven."

"What the Fairy Queen did to his evil eye... It must've severely crippled him."

"Yeah, but as long as Murdred isn't a threat, perhaps we don't need to worry about hunting him down and finishing him off for good."

"You don't understand..." said Seth. "I _want _Murdred to be destroyed."

"Look, I don't like that monster any better myself. But why are you still so gung ho on killing Murdred? You got out of your contractual obligation with the Singing Sisters, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's what Murdred represents which is why I, along with the rest of our family, want him to be truly destroyed at any cost."

"I wish I understood better," said Ingrid. "But I'm fairly new to the magical world and Fablehaven."

"Newbie or not," said Seth, "even you understand that Murdred is the living embodiment of hate. I may be a shadow charmer, but I love my family and my home, as fairy-heavy as they may be. As cool as my powers over darkness actually are, I'd trade them all away in a heartbeat if doing so would somehow eliminate Murdred."

"I see. Look, I'm willing to support you in your cause, but just how would you go about doing that? Fairy magic was able to weaken him, but only in this world, and only when he was in pain after his evil eye had been destroyed."

"It won't be easy," said Seth. "But I'll get him. If it comes down to it, I'll be like Captain Ahab, trying to kill Moby Dick. Only, I won't get myself killed in the process."

"So that's why you want the Necromaster's function to be properly recognized?" asked Ingrid.

"Exactly. We're not even sure if it is capable of killing Murdred. But from what we understand, it may be our best shot. Luring him into our world where he'd be vulnerable to fairy magic is far too convoluted and dangerous to even attempt. But if we could get the Necromaster working, and our theories on it are correct, then we may have a chance of killing Murdred with it."

Soon Seth and Ingrid had followed the trail until they had arrived at the back door to the house, through which they entered.

"Dinner smells good," said Ingrid, sniffing the air and smiling as she and Seth stepped into the kitchen.

"Smells like brisket," said Seth, as the tantalizing aroma of stewed beef wafted into his nostrils.

"Hey, kids," said Mrs. Sorenson, who was in the midst of chopping a red pepper over at the kitchen counter. "Dinner should be ready at six."

Seth looked over at the clock that was hanging over the sink. It appeared to almost be five-thirty.

"Five-thirty already?" asked Ingrid. "But it's still sunny out."

"Now that it's spring, the days are only going to be getting longer," said Mrs. Sorenson.

Before long, dinner was being served, and the family had all been seated in the dining room. Everybody was helping themselves to the various plates of vegetables that had been set up across the table.

"Seth, where were you and Ingrid this afternoon?" asked Mr. Sorenson.

"We just went for a walk around the preserve," replied Seth. "But don't worry, we didn't venture anywhere off limits. I swear."

"Seth," said Grandpa, "I happen to know for a fact that your opinion as to what's considered _off limits_, and my opinion, are as different as night and day."

"Seth's telling the truth," said Ingrid, nodding her head in agreement.

"So, where did you go?" asked Kendra.

"Just to the nursery."

"The nursery?" asked Warren, looking confused. "Since when are you into plants, Seth?"

"I was just... showing Ingrid around," replied Seth, not wanting to give away the real reason as to why he had gone there.

"Oh, I see," said Dale, glancing over at Seth with subtle grin. "Don't worry, it's cool."

Warren scratched one of his eyebrows using a single finger. "You know, I get the feeling that's there's something someone's not telling me."

"I'll say it," said Ingrid, whose remark caused Seth's heart to skip a beat. Was she just going to up and spoil the surprise? "You see, while we were out, Seth and I got to talking."

"About... what?" asked Kendra, who had now become intrigued by the current situation.

"Well... we got to talking about the situation regarding Murdred and the function of the Necromaster."

"I see," said Grandpa. "Is this about how we hope to one day destroy Murdred for good?"

"Well, yeah," said Seth. "But I don't know if that's even possible. Murdred isn't just a bad being. He may literally be a manifestation of hate and darkness. In that sense, he may be truly immortal, and would possess the capacity to elude death."

"Then what good would the Necromaster even be against someone who cannot die?" asked Kendra.

"That what we don't know," said Warren. "It depends on what's ultimately stronger. Murdred or the Necromaster. And right now, we still don't know if or how the Necromaster even so much as works."

"How is the research coming, then?" asked Seth. "Any progess?"

"Well, I gave up on the Necromaster weeks ago. Magical items are not my best subject. Agad's been looking at it ever since, but even he's had no more success than I've had."

"Nothing? But he's a wizard! If he can't figure the Necromaster out, who can?"

"It hasn't been a total loss," said Grandpa. "Agad has assured me that the Necromaster does indeed possess magical properties. However, he hasn't been able to get the relic to work at all."

Seth shook his head. "So, are you saying that figuring out the Necromaster is analogous to solving a Rubik's cube?"

"Not exactly. At least with a Rubik's cube, you have an idea of what the end result should look like. With the Necromaster, the entire thing is a complete mystery."

"Well, I hope that Agad manages to figure out the mystery of the Necromaster soon. The longer we wait, the more time Murdred has to strike back against us."

"How much time is Agad going to take with studying the Necromaster?" asked Kendra.

"I couldn't tell you," replied Grandpa. "Being a wizard, Agad will live on for a very long time. He be willing to invest centuries into trying to figure out the Necromaster with no degree of success. Or, he might give up on it tomorrow."

"Well, that's no good for us," said Seth. "We need a solution and we need it soon. The sooner the better."

"This isn't something that can be rushed, Seth. The Necromaster appears to have originated from the Demon Domain. And as you know, the Demon Domain is an unstable world where chaos prevails over order. Therefore, the inner workings and exact nature of this relic are unknown to us."

"Besides," said Grandma. "There's always the chance that Murdred will come to realize that he just doesn't have the strength he needs to invade our world, and will potentially never come back at all."

"That's just an assumption, Ruth," said Grandpa. "From what we know about Murdred, it's given me the impression that he does not just give up so easily. He has a lot of power at his disposal, and will typically stop at nothing to get what he wants."

"I remember when we defeated Murdred," said Kendra. "He seemed to be_ very_ angry about the whole situation."

"As ruler of the Demon Domain, Murdred's probably used to getting whatever he wants," said Seth. "And with those two negafae under his direct control, it usually came to him."

"But Demoric," said Ingrid. "You... _destroyed_ him."

"Exactly. And I'm sure Murdred didn't take his demise all too well. He'll want revenge on us just for that alone. But he still has Helwic at his command, and while she's only half of a pair, she's just as crafty as Demoric was."

"Look, the point is we don't know for sure just how powerful Murdred actually _is_ at this point," said Grandpa. "We know that his defeat hindered him in some way, since we haven't heard from him since. But, at the same time, it's possible that he's been regaining his strength in some way, and might make an attack against us."

"But, we're safe here at Fablehaven, aren't we?" asked Ingrid.

"I'd like to answer your question with a _yes_," replied Grandpa. "I mean, the preserve has powerful protection spells that shield it, not only from unregulated physical intrusions, but also from entry via unwanted teleportation. However, it's not flawless."

"How so?"

"Well, Ingrid, remember how we told you about the whole ordeal with Tritanoss?"

"Oh yeah! Oblivion and Tritanoss were so powerful, they were able to just bypass the barrier without any struggle."

"But Murdred was able to get get by exploiting a loophole," said Grandma. "Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't have been able to make it. But, when Helwic was here using Sarah's persona, she was able to set up a warp point on the preserve for them to later travel through."

"But that warp point was later destroyed," noted Clover. "But still, you never know if Murdred has some method of making it back to Fablehaven at his disposal."

"If only there was some way for us to check on him," said Seth. "It's too bad that the Occulus is incapable of penetrating its focus into the Demon Domain."

"As powerful as it and the other artifacts may be, none of them are simply compatible with physics of the Demon Domain," said Grandpa. "I'm sorry."

"I realize that this sounds risky," said Ingrid, "but why not just make a return visit to the Demon Domain and see for yourself?"

"It's a good suggestion," replied Seth. "But it's extremely risky. In order to find out for sure just what Murdred is even up to, we'd have to be in disguised. Going as the adlets last time worked to an extent, but our performance wasn't perfect. Also, we got extremely lucky and never encountered the real adlets during that visit. What are we supposed to do if we try going back there as adlets again, but run into Xipp, Xeero and Xillch?"

"You've got fairies, don't you?"

"Well, yes," replied Clover. "But our magic has its limitations, especially within the Demon Domain. Disguises will only get us so far."

"What about invisibility?"

"It'll wear off before too long. Even without a negafae around hampering our power, it would only last for so long."

"It's too bad that Coulter's glove isn't very effective," said Seth. "You've gotta remain perfectly still, or you'll just give yourself away."

"Still, if we could get the glove to work better, it would allow the wearer to sneak around the Demon Domain unnoticed," said Warren.

"I've got an idea," said Kendra. "Maybe we could have Agad examine the glove. Just because we know no more about the glove than Coulter did, doesn't mean that Coulter knew everything about it in the first place."

Grandpa stroked his chin. "That's not a bad idea. Perhaps there _is_ more to this glove than we're actually aware of. I mean, what's the point of an invisibility glove, if you need to remain still for it to even work properly."

"I always assumed it was just inferior magic," said Seth. "But I'd like for my theory to be proven wrong."

"However, Agad is already preoccupied in trying to figure out the Necromaster. Instead, I'll see if Trask would be willing to look into the glove situation. We already know how the glove works, but maybe there's a way to make it work better."

Seth smiled. "Hopefully there is a way to improve the functionality of the glove. Because if the thing actually worked better, one of us would be able to properly infiltrate Murdred's castle."

"But you'd be all alone," noted Grandma.

"Hey, better somebody's invisible and alone, than a whole group that our enemies can easily detect. And I wouldn't have to be alone. I could still go along with Raxtus. Even though he's a fairy dragon, I'm sure that he'd be able to withstand the harshness of the Demon Domain, at least for a little while."

"Okay then," said Grandpa. "After dinner I will speak with Trask and see what he can do about looking into the glove."

"Great," said Seth. "If there _is_ a way to improve the glove, it'll mean that we'll have a safer way of infiltrating Murdred's castle."


	2. Research

**Chapter 2: Research**

After dinner was over, Seth retreated to his bedroom for the night. Although he was not upset over the present situation, Seth couldn't help but fret over what they had discussed about Murdred. He and his allies needed to come up with an effective way to deal with him, as not dealing with Murdred at all might lead itself to drastic consequences.

Lying down on his bed, Seth stared up at his ceiling and thought about where they would go from here. What could Trask do about improving the invisibility glove that Coulter supposedly couldn't? Coulter Dixon had been a man who had devoted the greater half of his life into studying and researching magical objects, and even he couldn't make the glove any better than it currently was.

To Seth, awaiting a move from Murdred felt like waiting around to get struck by lightning. One could not tell when lightning was going to strike, or as to which exact spot it would hit. However, while lightning had storm clouds to indicate its appearance, the same could not be said about Murdred. All that the Demon God had to do was just... show up and he would undoubtedly start wreaking havoc.

Before Seth had gotten ready for bed, somebody knocked on his door.

"Come in," said Seth, prompting the door to open up. Grandma then entered the room.

"Grandpa spoke with Trask," said Grandma, as she sat down on the foot of Seth's bed. "He told him everything that we know about the glove, and even sent him a few photographs to use as reference."

"What's research alone going to do? The glove itself is what needs to be examined."

"Trask feels that there simply isn't a whole lot he could do in regards to examining the glove. However, if he can possibly delve up more information on it, then perhaps we would be able to understand it better."

"I understand," said Seth. "I just hope that Trask manages to have better luck than Agad's been having."

"As do I," said Grandma, as she came around to Seth's side, bent down and kissed him on his cheek.

"Goodnight, Grandma."

"Goodnight, Seth," said Grandma, as she walked out of Seth's room and shut the door behind herself. Not much later, Seth had changed into his pyjamas, washed up and returned to his room. Trying to focus on something other than Murdred, Seth soon forgot about him and before long, he had fallen sound asleep.

By the time he had opened his eyes the next morning, Seth found himself not fretting about all the commotion that had been discussed in regards to Murdred from the previous day. To him, it was now a brand new day, and he was looking forward to just taking it easy.

Once Seth rolled out of his bed, he walked over towards the window and drew open the curtain. The sky was clear, and the morning sun was beaming down across the preserve. Right now, it was impossible for him to be in such a bad mood. It was such a gorgeous day outside.

After washing up and taking a quick shower, Seth changed into a fresh set of clothes and proudly marched down the stairs to the first floor, holding his head up high. There had probably been no further developments having to do with either the Necromaster or Coulter's glove, but as far as Seth was concerned, no news was good news.

Seth made his way into the dining room, where the rest of his family was already sitting down to their breakfast. Seth then sat down in his seat once he got to the table.

"Good morning!" said Seth, smiling at the other members of his family.

"Glad to see that you're up and ready," said Grandpa, who was poring over several sheets of paper that were scattered on the table in front of him. "We've got a fair bit of work to do."

"Work?" cried Seth. "Err, what kind of work?"

"Well, as you know, after dinner yesterday, I contacted Trask and spoke to him about Coulter's glove. I also sent him pictures of the glove as a reference."

"You mean, he was able to figure out something else about the glove that Coulter didn't know about?"

"Well, no," replied Kendra, shaking her head. "Tell him, Grandpa.

"Coulter did a bit of investigating," said Grandpa, as Grandpa placed a plate containing two breakfast sausages and a hard-boiled egg in a cup down in front of him. "While he did not so much as examine the glove in any form, he did make a discovery."

"What's that?" asked Seth, smacking the shell of his egg with the back of his spoon, cracking it.

"Well, apparently, he has reason to believe there are other gloves out there that are just like it."

"Really?" asked Seth. Grandpa nodded. "If Trask is correct, then the glove we got from Coulter is not one-of-a-kind. Others like it exist."

"Here's what I don't get," said Kendra. "If the glove we have now isn't terribly effective, what good will more of them even be?"

"Well, for starters, Trask could only find any information on one singular glove, other than the current one we already have. Whether or not there's more out there is unknown."

"Trask suggested that this other glove which he discovered presumably has the same power as our own," said Grandma. "However, it may be in better condition that ours. If this is the case, it would work more effectively, meaning that the wearer could be sufficiently invisible."

"And if it isn't any better than our glove," said Warren, "then at least it's a second glove. That way two people could each wear a glove at the same time."

"But what if this other glove doesn't work at all?" asked Ingrid.

"It would be unfortunate," replied Grandpa. "But it wouldn't be travesty. I mean, by pursuing and obtaining this glove, we don't stand to actually lose anything. Besides, if there are any discrepancies between our glove and this other one, perhaps we would be able to learn something from it."

"So, where exactly are we supposed to find this other glove?" asked Seth.

"According to Trask, it's on display in the Smithsonian."

"It's in a museum?" asked Ingrid. "Hold on a second. The glove we have now..."

"It's right here," said Grandpa, as he reached down beside him, then lifted his arm up and placed the aforementioned brown leather glove onto the table.

"You were saying?" asked Seth, as he signalled for the glove to be passed down the table and into his hands. Seth looked down at it, and saw that while the glove appeared to be an immeasurable amount of years old, it's overall condition gave off the impression that it was a high-quality piece of clothing.

"Seth, what happens when you slip on the glove?" asked Ingrid, although even she was aware of the glove's function.

"This," replied Seth, slipping the glove over his wrist and sliding his fingers into its sockets. Remaining completely still, everyone at the table marvelled as Seth disappeared from plain sight.

"Exactly," said Ingrid, as Seth moved his hand down to pick up his spoon, only for his body to flicker in and out of visibility.

"Look, we know that this glove isn't exactly perfect," said Seth, pulling it off of his wrist and allowing himself to become fully visible again. "But what are you getting at?"

"Well, pretend that you stumbled upon this glove, but had no knowledge of its power. What's one of the first things you might try with it?"

"Try it on?" answered Kendra.

"Exactly. So, what if this other glove's been discovered? Wouldn't somebody have tried it on at some point and seen what it does?" asked Ingrid. "Unless of course it doesn't even work."

"It may in fact still work," said Grandpa. "If it's anything like our glove, the magic within it would slowly deplete over time. But, since our glove has been regularly exposed to magical energy, it works properly. However, this other glove has presumably not been exposed to magical energy in quite some time. From what we can conjecture, it was not discovered by anybody with ties to the magical world.

Likewise, it wouldn't have had any power within it for eons, so anybody who tried on this glove upon its discovery would never assume that it's extraordinary."

"In other words, whoever found this glove probably has no idea as to what it might truly be capable of," said Seth.

"Yes. However, we're hoping that by exposing it to something like, say... Kendra's touch, it would reignite the magic with it," replied Grandpa.

"So, this glove is just sitting on display in a museum?" asked Ingrid.

"If Trask's research is accurate, then yes," replied Grandpa.

Mrs. Sorenson raised her hand. "There's something about all of this that I don't understand. "If this glove is in fact on display in the Smithsonian, how do you intend on obtaining it? You can't just walk into a museum and request to purchase one of the exhibits."

"Maybe if you threw enough money at the curator..." said Warren.

"Marla raises a point." said Stan. "Museum artifacts generally are not something that can be purchased by private collectors."

"Then how are we supposed to even get a hold of this glove?" asked Seth.

"Don't tell me..." said Warren, displaying a concerned look on his face. "You want us to _steal_ this glove?"

Grandpa winced and held up his hands. "Not exactly. I don't _want_ for anybody to just steal this glove. However, I feel that there may be more to this glove than meets the eye. And if would be a lot more beneficial to us if we were in possession of this glove, than if it just remained in the museum."

"You're saying that we _should_ steal the glove?" asked Kendra.

"I know it's wrong," said Grandpa. "Especially since a museum is something for everybody to appreciate. Also, I'm sure everybody at this table would feel overcome with remorse after stealing from someone who is not their enemy."

"And it's not like this other glove was ours to begin with," said Mr. Sorenson. "From what I've been told, Coulter's only ever had this one glove. But we don't know where it originates from, or how Coulter came into acquisition of it. This other glove is not rightfully ours to reclaim."

"But we may be able to make use of it," said Grandpa.

"Excuse me," said Kendra, raising her hand into the air. "Not that I'm very keen about all of this. But, how are we even supposed to steal this glove? Wouldn't it be protected by a security system?"

"Yeah," said Ingrid. "If we tried to steal this glove, we'd just get arrested. I admit that I stole a few things when I was homeless, but I was desperate."

"Ingrid," said Mrs. Sorenson. "What you did in the past was wrong, but we've forgiven you. And although our intentions mean well, stealing from the museum, regardless of the circumstance, is still stealing."

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Seth. "Walk into the museum, smash open the glass casing and escape using the Translocator?"

Warren shook his head. "No way. Even if we managed to escape, we'd cause way to much hullabaloo if we just went in and swiped the glove."

"And if the glove turns out to be useless," said Ingrid, "what are we supposed to do with it?"

"The best way to do this," said Warren, "would be to sneak in after hours."

"Now you're talking," said Seth. He envisioned himself wearing a leather suit at night, standing on roof of the Smithsonian next to a large skylight. Seth then pictured himself with a rope tied around his waist, being lowered down through a web of glowing red lasers towards a pedestal.

"But there's still security," said Kendra. "I mean, there's gotta be guards and cameras looking out for robbers."

"We've got magic, don't we?" asked Clover. "With it, we can subdue any guards and maybe even deactivate the security system."

"Problem," said Ingrid. "After you take the glove, the museum's going to discover that one of their exhibits has been stolen. It'll be all over the news, even if nobody gets caught."

"That wouldn't be right," said Grandpa. "We'd create a huge frenzy if we did that."

"I was just thinking about those spy movies," said Seth. "You know, the ones where people sneak into a museum to steal whatever valuable MacGuffin that they're after?"

"You know, those red laser beams you're probably thinking of aren't used in museums," said Dale. "These places usually have motion sensors."

"Really?" asked Seth. "But anyway, it got me thinking. Sometimes in these movies, when the object is stolen, like say a gemstone, a phony one is put in the place of the real one, so that nobody will find out that it's missing."

"A phony glove?" asked Grandpa, whose eyes widened as he scratched his chin with his thumbnail.

"It's not such a bad idea," said Grandma. "To the museum, the glove they have on display is just an unusual, but nothing spectacular, glove. If it were to get replaced with a proxy, so long as it's convincing enough, they might not notice."

"So, where are we supposed to get a fake glove so that we can pull off this switcheroo?" asked Ingrid.

"We'll have to make one," replied Grandpa. "Fortunately for us, we already have a glove just like it."

"Hold on," said Kendra. "How sure can we be that the glove that's at the museum accurately matches Coulter's? Our phony glove will need to look _exactly _like the one that's on display."

"Trask sent me these photographs of the glove," replied Grandpa, passing down three pieces of printer paper, each one with a picture on it.

Kendra pored over each of the three photographs. Two of them appeared to be of a display case from different angles; the glove within could barely be seen. The third was a closer shot of the exhibit, with the glove in plain sight.

"It kinda does look like our glove," said Kendra, comparing the picture to Coulter's glove. "But it's hard to be sure when it's behind glass in a still image."

"As useful as this information may be, these photographs were taken by a tourist who uploaded them to the internet," said Grandpa. "There's very little information about this glove online, because the Smithsonian doesn't know all that much about it. This is why somebody needs to go to the museum in person and see the glove for themselves."

"That way, we'll know for sure if it's anything special," said Warren. "And if it's even worth our time."

"Where are we supposed to get another glove that looks just like this one to replace the one we steal?" asked Ingrid, eyeing Coulter's glove.

"I could try sewing one from scratch," said Grandma. "Provided I had the appropriate materials."

"Leave that to me," said Clover. "Just place the glove we have down in front of me."

"What are you doing?" asked Ingrid, as Clover fixated her eyes upon Coulter's glove.

Ignoring Ingrid, Clover's hands started to glow green. Still staring down at the glove, Clover moved her hands away from the glove and over to an empty spot next to it on the table. Glowing energy flowed down from Clover's hands, prompting a glove to suddenly appear upon the table.

"There we go," said Clover, removing her hands the instant they stopped glowing.

"That's incredible," said Ingrid, who did a double check to compare the imitation glove with the real one.

"It looks just like it," said Seth, as he reached over and picked up the fake glove. "It'd be incredible if it actually worked,"

Everyone watched as Seth slipped on the glove, but failed to disappear before their eyes.

Clover laughed. "Oh, please, Seth! If I had the power to come up with a functional glove, we wouldn't have to go through with this whole ordeal! It took a _lot_ of concentration and energy out of me to not only conjure up this glove, but to get it to look just like the one we already have. But bestowing it with the power of invisibility? I couldn't do that no matter how hard I tried."

"It's fine, Clover," said Warren, patting his wife on her shoulder. "The glove is lovely.

"I'm going to tie a piece of twine around the pinky finger of the real glove," said Grandpa, as he scooped it up from in front of Clover. "That way, you'll be able to tell it apart from the fake one without having to try it on."

"Good thinking," said Kendra. "It wouldn't be very fun if we took the museum's glove, only to leave behind Coulter's in its place."

"Is there anything else we need to know about?"

"Trask and I managed to pinpoint the location of the glove within the Smithsonian," answered Grandpa. "If our information is correct, you should have no trouble finding the glove when you go yourselves."

"Who's gets to go?" asked Seth.

Grandpa looked around the room. "There doesn't seem to be any real danger, so long as you're not careless, I suppose it will be you, Kendra, Warren and Ingrid. Clover and Bright should accompany you as well so that you may take advantage of their power.

"Cool!" said Ingrid. "My first mission!"

"It'll be a walk in the park compared to some of our other ventures," said Seth. "But... baby steps, Ingrid."

"So when can we get started on the mission?" asked Ingrid.

"Whenever you're ready," replied Grandpa.


	3. Museum Trip

**Chapter 3: Museum Trip**

Shortly thereafter, Kendra and Seth had made their way into the yard in front of the house, along with Warren, Ingrid, Bright and Clover.

"So, do we have everything we'll need?"

"Let's see," said Warren, who was holding several pieces of paper in his hands. "We've got all the information on the glove that Grandpa and Trask were able to find. We've got the Translocator, along with the fairies and the dragons. I think we'll be fine."

"Don't forget the fake glove," said Seth, holding up the phony glove between his thumb and index finger.

"So, the Smithsonian's located in Washington D.C, isn't it?" asked Ingrid. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Two seconds," replied Warren. "I've been to D.C. before, so it won't take too long for us to reach the actual museum.

"We're going to use the Translocator?" asked Ingrid, pointing to the artifact that Warren had within his hands.

"Yeah," said Kendra. "Aren't you excited?"

"But, what if something... goes wrong?" asked Ingrid.

"You mean like if it sends us to the wrong place?" asked Seth. "Or it makes all of us swap heads? Ooh, you'd better watch out, Ingrid!"

Ingrid dropped her jaw in shock.

"Don't worry, Ingrid," said Kendra, patting Ingrid on her shoulder. "Seth's just being usual, bratty brother self. As long as it's working, the Translocator is actually a perfectly safe way to travel."

"Well, if you say so," said Ingrid, who still seemed to be displaying a slightly terrified look on her face.

"It's fine," said Warren. "The Translocator always sends you to where you want to go. Except for that time when Oblivion had cast a spell to mess with the wavelengths of the instruments. Boy, was that ever crazy. But don't worry, that's over and done with."

"All right, already," said Seth. "Let's just get going already!"

"I guess we might as well stay out of sight now," said Bright. Clover nodded in agreement.

"How come?" asked Ingrid. "You two can pass for humans when you're full size. Nobody will know that you're a fairy."

"It's unlikely," said Clover. "However, we're going to be out in public, where there's plenty of people. And, you never can be sure if there's someone else out there who can sense magical creatures like Bright and myself."

"You two seem really overprotective about your identities," said Seth. "I'd be willing to bet money that nobody would spot you if you didn't hide yourselves."

"Well, we're just not that comfortable if we have to be away from the preserve and around so many unfamiliar humans," said Bright.

"Let us know if you need anything," said Clover. "We'll be right by your side."

Clover then vanished in a poof of green sparkles, while Bright likewise did the same with rainbow-colored ones.

"Where are they going?" asked Ingrid.

"Don't worry," said Kendra. "They're still with us. Sort of. And when we travel through with the Translocator, they'll follow along anyway."

"There's nothing to be afraid of," said Warren, holding out the Translocator. "Just place your hand on it and we'll be off."

"Okay," said Ingrid cautiously, as she, Kendra and Seth each placed a hand onto the Translocator. Warren then twisted the artifact with his other hand, and soon the group was pulled in by it.

A moment later, Kendra and Seth found themselves standing on a large field of grass.

"Hey, where are we?" asked Ingrid, looking around at her surroundings.

"We're here," said Warren. "Washington, District of Columbia."

Kendra and Seth both looked around, and could see that they were beneath some tree branches in some sort of large park. In front of them was appeared to be a long pool surrounded by grass.

"Hey, that's the Reflecting Pool!" said Kendra, as she walked over towards the aforementioned pool that stretched across in front of her.

Looking to his left, Seth was able to see the Washington Monument in the distance. To his right, he could see the Lincoln Memorial.

"I can't believe we're here!" said Ingrid.

"Hey!" said Seth, looking down at the Lincoln Memorial. "Isn't that where they have that large statue of Abraham Lincoln?"

"I think so," said Kendra. "But right now, we've got to get to the Smithsonian. Where is it from here, Warren?"

"Not too far," said Warren. "Probably a few minutes if we take a taxi. Let's go find one."

The group then proceeded to walk towards the nearest road.

"I don't get it," said Ingrid. "Why not just use the Translocator to travel directly to the museum?"

"It can only take you to anywhere you've already been," said Kendra. "Warren's been to this part of Washington, but not the Smithsonian."

"I guess we couldn't have gone the rest of the way with Raxtus and Geminus, huh?" asked Ingrid.

"Too impractical," said Seth. "Besides, it's risky riding through a city on a dragon. Best to avoid doing so if you can."

Soon they had reached a road where several taxis were parked. Warren climbed into the passenger seat of one, while Kendra, Seth and Ingrid seated themselves in the back.

"Where to?" asked the cabbie.

"Museum of Natural History," said Warren.

"You got it," said the cabbie, as he turned on the ignition and proceeded to drive off.

The drive down Constitution Ave was quick and smooth. As Kendra and Seth gazed out the window the admire the sights that they passed by, they took in as much as their eyes could absorb. In less than five minutes, the taxi had pulled over in front of the entrance to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

"Thank you," said Warren, passing a twenty dollar bill over to the cabbie, as he climbed out of the front seat. Kendra, Seth and Ingrid followed Warren out of the taxi, and they walked up towards the entrance to the museum.

"Man, I hope it really is here," said Seth.

"Well, if it's not," said Kendra, "then this whole trip wasn't a huge loss."

"Hey, how come you didn't use the Occulus to check and make sure that the glove is really here?" asked Ingrid.

"Well, none of us have seen the glove first hand," said Kendra. "Just those low resolution pictures. And it looks just like Coulter's glove, so it would be hard for us to pinpoint it using the Occulus."

"Besides, it's not like coming here was too much trouble," said Warren, as they entered the front door of the building.

Seth and Kendra gazed around at the large room they had entered. It was a rotunda, several stories high, with balconies of the upper floors surrounding them. In the centre of the entry hall was a display where a stuffed African elephant stood.

"It says here that the African elephant is the largest terrestrial animal known to man," said Ingrid, reading an inscription on the display.

"We've seen bigger," said Seth. "A _lot_ bigger!"

Kendra then looked around the rotunda a bit more, wondering to herself where they were supposed to be going. "So, where's the glove even supposed to be?"

"According to Trask's research, it's upstairs in another part of the museum," replied Warren. "Come on."

The group made their way over towards an elevator and rode it up to the second floor. They they travelled down a hallway, passing by all sort of intriguing exhibits. Had they not been on a mission, Seth and Kendra would've enjoyed taking their time to look around the museum. However, finding out about this glove was their priority.

"Where exactly _is_ this glove?" asked Seth.

"That's what we need to find out," said Warren. "The information that Trask got wasn't very specific. And because the origins of the glove are unknown to the museum, it's hard to determine just where they could've put it.

"Look, why don't we just ask a guide where it might be?" asked Ingrid.

"Well, I'd rather not give anything away to the staff that somebody's interested in this glove," said Warren. "Interested to the point where we brought pictures of it to the museum. The less that they know about what we're planning, the better."

"Still, if all else fails," said Kendra. "I suggest that we ask. But for now, let's just keep on the lookout."

"Okay, but let's try to stay together," said Warren. "We'll take this investigation one room at a time."

The group proceeded into a room where many animal specimens and parts were on display.

"I don't think the glove's anywhere in here," said Ingrid, looking around at their surroundings, which consisted mostly of skeletons and stuffed bodies.

"Is that a unicorn horn?" asked Seth, walking towards a display case.

Kendra snorted. "No, Seth! It's just a narwhal tusk."

Seth looked into the case and gazed at the long, spiralling tusk. It was massive, much longer than an actual unicorn's horn really was.

"You're not the first one to make that connection, Seth," said Warren. "In the olden days, people who didn't know what these tusks actually were theorized that they might've been unicorn horns."

"You think any of these so-called _tusks _actually _are_ unicorn horns?" asked Ingrid.

"You never know," said Warren.

Kendra looked down at the inscription on the case and read it. "It says here that the tusk, which is exclusive to male narwhals, is a biological mystery. They always spiral counter-clockwise, forming a left-handed helix.

"Just like unicorn horns," said Warren. "I wonder if there's some connection?"

"Why always counter-clockwise?" asked Seth.

"Well, with narwhals, their tusk isn't centre, causing it to be asymmetrical. But unicorn horns are always centred. No idea why."

After exploring the floor for a good little while, the group had found their way into a room full of ancient treasures and trinkets.

"Hey, I think I found it!" said Ingrid, drawing over the attention of her allies from the other side of the room.

Seth, Kendra and Warren all scurried over to the small display case where Ingrid was currently standing. They then gathered around the cased and peered down through the glass.

Sitting by itself in the case, the glove was seemingly just lying down in plain sight, with its backside facing upwards.

"No way!" said Seth, gazing at the glove, which was a dead ringer for the one that had once belonged to Coulter.

"I think this is it," said Warren, nodding in approval.

"Let me take a picture," said Kendra, as she pulled a digital camera from out of her handbag. She then held it up to her face and started to take pictures of the glove once it came into focus. Next, she proceeded to move around to the sides of the case in order to get shots of the glove from different angles and perspectives.

Seth looked around the room. There were a few other people paying attention to some of the other exhibits, but none of them were in the direct vicinity.

"You think we've been attracting too much attention so far?" asked Seth.

"Aside from responding to Ingrid, not really," said Kendra.

"Sorry, I just got excited," said Ingrid.

"It is better if we keep a low profile," said Warren. "Now that we've got some better pictures, we can go and compare them to our own glove."

The group made their way out of the room and into a hallway, where they sat down on an unoccupied bench. Warren then opened his bag and removed both the real glove that they owned, along with the phony one that Clover had conjured up. From what Kendra and Seth could tell, the only distinguishing feature between the two gloves was the twine that had been tied around the pinky finger of the real one.

"There's no mistaking it," said Kendra, looking over the pictures she had taken of the glove that was on display, and comparing it to their gloves. "This glove looks just like ours."

"But is this glove that's here even magical?" asked Ingrid, as Warren slipped the two gloves back into his bag. "I mean, it could just be a huge coincidence that they look alike."

"Well, perhaps our glove wasn't unique to begin with," said Seth. "Maybe somebody just took an ordinary glove and enchanted it or something. This glove that's here might just be another one that isn't anything special."

"Hold on," said Warren. "Let's go back to the glove."

The group then got up from the bench and made their way back into the other room where the glove was.

"The more I look at this glove," said Seth, "the more I'm certain that it's just like ours."

"Let me check the inscription," said Kendra, looking down at the small plaque that was embedded on the front of the case.

"What does it say?" asked Ingrid.

Kendra winced. "It says that the glove's origins are unclear. It was last in possession of an anonymous couple who had inherited it twenty years ago, but they don't know where it came from. Unable to get an appraisal on the glove, they donated it to the museum."

"Weird," said Seth. "I guess this means that if the glove even _is _magical, its previous owners were completely unaware of it."

"So, how are we supposed to get a hold this glove?" asked Ingrid.

Warren shifted his eyes from side to side, then proceeded to speak in a whisper. "There are cameras in this room, along with other visitors. To remove the glove from the display right now would be suicide. That's why we'll come back here when the place is closed and make an effort to get it then."

"But what about the cameras?" asked Seth.

"That's the other part of my plan," said Warren, as he led the group away from the glove on display. "We need to find the security room, so that when we come back here after hours, we can incapacitate the guards, shut off the alarm system and take the glove.

The group made their back down to the first floor, and proceeded to explore around the place for a fair bit of time. Soon they had discovered a small hallway. In it were two doors. One was labelled as a fire exit, while at the end of the hallway stood another door that was marked "Staff Only".

"This may be it," said Warren. "Clover, come out."

"What is it?" asked the green fairy, once she had appeared before the group.

"Can you bypass the door, make a note of what's on the other side, then return to us?"

"I'll try," said Clover, as she flew up towards the Staff Only door, then vanished in a cloud of green sparkles.

Roughly ten seconds later, Clover had reappeared and flew back over to the group.

"There's three men in uniform in there," said Clover. "They didn't notice me, because they were all watching TV or something."

"Good job," said Warren. "This is where we want to be later. Thank you."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Seth, as he glanced at his watch. "This place won't be closed until the evening, and it's not even lunch time yet."

"Well, that gives us several hours to kill," said Kendra. "What'll we do until then?"

"Well, I'll call Stan and let him know about what we found," said Warren. "But for the rest of the day, as long as we're here in Washington D.C., we might as well take in the sights. Be tourists."

For the next few hours, the group spent time looking around the history museum at all sorts of outstanding and interesting artifacts and specimen that were on display. Eventually, they stopped to eat lunch, then opted to ride around the city on a tour bus, allowing them to see the sights.

The bus passed by all sorts of landmarks, including the White House, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, the National Archives, the Jefferson Memorial, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

After the bus ride had ended, the group, proceeded to walk around the town for the next little while. There wasn't really enough time for them to visit another landmark, but they didn't mind, for they were here on a mission.

Afterwards, the group had discovered a restaurant where they sat down and ordered dinner for themselves.

"This city sure has a lot of memorials," said Ingrid.

"Well, a lot of people have in history," said Warren. "People fought with each other over ideals and beliefs. In some parts of the world, this fighting still persists."

"Reminds me of Murdred," said Seth. "I know that he'd try to conquer our world if he could. Man, just the very thought of it gives me goosebumps."

"You know, there's more to the memorials than just to remind us of people who died in the past," said Kendra. "They also serve as a reminder for us that if people _do_ fight with each other, the results can be devastating and tragic.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Seth. "There's way too much conflict going on in the world for us to do anything about it. If only we'd been more careful with the instruments, instead of letting them sit in the Fairy Kingdom all this time."

"Using magic to fix everything won't do anything to improve the human race," said Warren. "We'd grow lazy and become too reliant on using magic solve everything. Learning to get along with each other is the most sensible option, and it doesn't require any magic."

"Right now I just want to get the glove, so that maybe we can have a better shot at stopping Murdred," said Seth. "I don't think any amount of love or reasoning will work with him."

"We'll get the glove," said Warren. "Right after we finish dinner."


	4. If the Glove Fits

**Chapter 4: If the Glove Fits**

After treating themselves to a delicious dinner at the restaurant they were at, the group went to a park where they hung out until the sun had set. Before long, there were no more streaks of sunlight spanning from across the horizon, meaning that nighttime was now well underway.

The time now was almost ten o'clock in the evening. Although the museum had been closed for a few hours by this point, the plan was to wait it out until it got darker, as there were likely custodians doing clean-up shortly after closing time. Not that they weren't anything that the group was unable to deal with, but the fewer people who spotted them, the better.

"Well," said Seth, who was sitting on a park bench in the National Mall, along with Kendra, Ingrid and Warren. From where they were sitting, the Museum of Natural History was in close sight. "I think it's late enough."

"Agreed," said Warren. "But let's go somewhere quiet. There's a lot of people around here."

The group then got up and made their way out of the National Mall. After crossing the street, they slunk into an alley and went around to the back of the building.

"Good," said Ingrid. "I don't think there's anybody else around here."

"Bright," said Kendra. "Clover. Get ready."

The two fairies then materialized in front of everybody floating around in their diminutive forms.

"You two remember the plan?" asked Seth.

"We sure do," said Bright, who nodded along with Clover.

"Good," said Warren, as he removed the Translocator from his bag, twisted it in his hands and held it out for everybody to touch. "I guess we're good to go. Let's do this."

"This really doesn't fill me with satisfaction," said Ingrid. "My first real mission, and we're stealing from a museum?"

"Yeah, it's a shame we don't get to fight off a horde of ravenous monsters instead of this," said Warren. "If you'd prefer, we can take you home instead and recruit you for when we _do_ have to fight ravenous monsters."

"Very funny," said Ingrid, arms crossed.

"He kind of has a point," said Kendra. "Most of our missions tend to be rather dangerous. If anything, you're lucky that this first one is actually free of any real hazards."

"Come on," said Seth, placing his hand down onto the Translocator. "Let's go already!"

Ingrid sighed. "All right." She then set her hand down onto the Translocator, as did Kendra, Bright and Clover. Using his other hand, Warren twisted the Translocator and in an instant, it pulled the group through space.

Suddenly, the group was no longer standing in a back alley. Instead, they were now inside a dimly-lit hallway. Kendra and Seth were quick to recognize it as the hallway in the museum that lead to the security room.

"The security room's right in that door, isn't it?" asked Seth in a whisper, while glancing over to the door at the end of the hallway that was marked with a _Staff Only_ sign.

"Should be," said Kendra. "Now listen up, Bright and Clover. I want the two of you to pass through that doorway and put everybody who's inside to sleep.

"Can do," said Bright, as she and Clover flew up towards the doorway. The two of them then vanished in their own clouds of sparkles.

"Is this really going to work?" asked Ingrid.

"In theory, it should," said Seth. "I mean, if we can get to the glove without getting caught, what's to stop us from switching it with our fake?"

A moment later, the two fairies reappeared in front of the door.

"Done and done," said Clover. "All of the guards on the other side of this door are now sound asleep.

"Is that really going to work?" asked Ingrid.

"We've put them all to sleep for several hours," said Bright.

"Good, because all we need is several minutes," said Warren.

"But, what about the security system?" asked Seth.

"I've got an idea," said Warren. "Clover, I need you to use your magic to unlock this door."

"Okay," said Clover, as the fairy used her power on the doorknob, causing the lock inside to click open.

Warren then turned the doorknob and opened the door into the security room. Inside was a console full of possibly twenty to thirty television monitors. Sitting in front of the console were three security guards, all of whom were sitting down in swivelling office chairs, and appeared to be in a deep sleep.

"Cool," said Kendra, as she gazed into the monitors, each of which depicted a different viewpoint somewhere within the museum.

Seth then waved his hand in front of one of the sleeping guards' face, trying to gain his attention. Part of Seth didn't want to somehow accidentally wake the guard, the other part of him did.

"So, what do we do about the security system?" asked Ingrid.

"Beats me," said Warren, as he woke up a nearby computer from its screen saver mode. "I don't know where to access that, and I can't do anything on this computer without a password."

"I bet its something obvious," said Seth, looking over at the password screen that the computer was displaying. "Like _Smithsonian_, or _museum_. Or maybe the password _is_ password. The computers in our school's library were like that."

"I doubt they're that stupid," said Kendra.

"Well, I don't know how we're supposed to disable any of the cameras or the security system," said Warren.

"Great," said Ingrid with disappointment. "Now they're sure to catch us."

"Not necessarily," said Warren. "It's unlikely that they ever re-watch their security footage if nothing seems amiss. So unless another party is planning a break-in tonight, it shouldn't be a problem."

"So," said Seth, "if we can get the glove without drawing any attention and switch it around with ours, nobody will be the wiser?"

"Hopefully," said Kendra.

"Well, with these guards on camera duty out of commission, we just need to make sure that none of the night watchmen see us," said Warren.

"But when these guards wake up, won't they realize that they've been asleep for a while?" asked Kendra.

"I can alter their sleep pattern to a semi-conscious state. They won't be aware enough to pay attention to anything, but they also won't just wake up suddenly with no knowledge of what's transpired.

Bright waved her hand around, sprinkling her sparkles onto the three guards.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't go wrong," said Ingrid, as the guards open their eyes, and their jaws all fell open.

"Hello?" asked Seth, failing to gain one of the guards' attention as he stuck his hand in front of their face again.

"Stop that," said Kendra.

"Okay," said Warren, holding up the Translocator. "The fastest and safest way to the glove is by using the Translocator. Let's go!"

Everybody then placed a hand on the Translocator again. Warren then twisted it once more, allowing it to warp the entire group from inside the security room and into the gallery room on the second floor of the museum.

Compared to earlier in the day, the museum barely had any light after hours. Although Seth was still able to see, he would've preferred it if the lights were kept on all night.

"Here's the glove," said Ingrid, directing the group's attention over to the case.

"Okay," said Kendra, gazing around the room, trying to locate a surveillance camera, "let's see if we can pull off this little _switcheroo_."

"The case can be opened with a key," said Warren, pointing down to a small keyhole on a corner of the case."

"That's convenient," said Ingrid. "Should we go back to the security room and see if we can find the exact key we need?"

"We don't need a key," said Clover, as she flew over to a keyhole that was located underneath the glass. "Watch."

Clover snapped her fingers, prompting the lock to snap open. The fairy then used her power to magically swing open the front end of the display case, exposing the glove that was sitting inside.

"Okay," said Kendra. "Is it safe to just go and take it? I mean, what about the alarm?"

"I doubt they have every last artifact in this building under total lock-down," said Warren. "Especially something as cryptic to them as this glove."

"So, let's just take it," said Seth, reaching his hand in towards the case.

"Hold on," said Warren, grabbing Seth's arm. "We don't yet understand the properties of this glove. It's best if this glove remains unsullied before we start experimenting with it."

"So, if Seth shouldn't touch it because he's a shadow charmer," said Kendra, "then I shouldn't either, because I'm fairyprime."

"Why don't I take it?" asked Ingrid. "I've got no magical anomalies within me."

"Okay," said Warren. "The glove doesn't appeared to have any safeguards around it anyway."

Ingrid then stuck her hand into the case, picked up the glove and removed it. Kendra could feel her heart pounding as this was going on. If the risk of the situation wasn't bothering her, the morality of it certainly was.

Next, Warren reached into his bag and pulled out the phony glove.

"How do we know _that's_ the phony glove?" asked Seth.

"Don't you remember?" asked Kendra. "There's twine on the real one."

Warren slipped the phony glove over his hand and remained completely still. "You satisfied?" he asked, as he removed the glove from his wrist and proceeded to place it in the case.

"I guess so," said Seth. "I'd hate to have to come back here after discovering that we held on to the fake glove, and instead put our real glove into the museum."

Kendra then shut the case, causing it to automatically lock itself back up. "It's like we were never here," she said, admiring the way Warren had set down the fake glove.

"An open and shut case," said Warren."

"Are we done?" asked Ingrid.

Warren nodded. "Yup. Assuming the guards don't suspect that the glove that we took was stolen, we should be in the clear. They won't check the surveillance recordings if they don't suspect anything."

"Okay, okay," said Seth. "Let's just get the hell out of here."

Warren the held out the Translocator again. As soon as everybody was touching it, it transported the entire group out of the museum.

When Kendra opened her eyes, she found herself, along with her allies, standing back in the living room at Fablehaven.

"We're back!" exclaimed Ingrid. "This is incredible!"

"Did you get the glove?" asked Mr. Sorenson. Everybody turned to see him sitting on the couch, reading a book in his bathrobe.

"We sure did," said Ingrid, holding up the stolen glove proudly.

Before long, the rest of the family had met up with the group in the living room, apparently having been drawn in by the commotion that the group was creating. Soon everybody was sitting down, and both of the gloves, the one that belonged to Coulter, as well as the stolen one, had been placed down on the table.

"So, this was the glove that had been in the museum?" asked Grandpa, admiring the stolen glove from a distance. "Amazing. It looks just like ours."

"Guess it doesn't work," said Seth. "If it ever worked at all in the first place. Otherwise, somebody would've figured it out."

"Yeah," said Kendra. "It takes no effort on anybody's behalf for Coulter's glove to work. You just slip it on... and you disappear."

"Not much point in trying on this new glove now," said Dale. "Any magic within it has to be long gone."

"And I'm the only one of us to have handled it," noted Ingrid.

"A charge from somebody like Kendra might just do the trick," said Grandpa. "Why don't you give it a shot?"

Kendra then picked up the glove, and could feel magic pulsating through her hands and into the piece of handwear. "I think it's working."

"Well, try it on," said Mrs. Sorenson.

Once the magic within her stopped flowing, Kendra attempted to slip the glove onto her hand.

"It doesn't even fit!" exclaimed Kendra, struggling to fit the glove over her wrist.

"Hold it!" said Grandpa. "Put the glove back down, Kendra."

Kendra then placed the glove back down on the table.

"Let me see something," said Grandpa, as he arranged the two gloves side-by-side. "A-ha! Anybody else see what's different?"

"The gloves," said Kendra, comparing the two of them. "They're for opposite hands!"

Seth took a good look at the two gloves. Surely enough, the two gloves were in fact mirror images of each other.

"See, Coulter's glove is as we all know is designed to fit on the wearer's right hand," said Grandpa. "But, as we can plainly see, this other glove is meant to fit on one's left hand."

"So the gloves are different," said Seth.

"No way," said Kendra. "Something tells me that these two gloves may actually be mates."

"Of course!" said Grandma. "Kendra, do you mind putting on the left glove for us, so we can see what it does?"

"Okay," said Kendra, as she picked up the left glove and slipped it onto her hand. The moment her fingers passed through the gloves fingerless holes, she experienced her body turning invisible.

"It works!" said Kendra. "Just like the other glove!"

Kendra waved her arm around, which caused her body to flicker in and out of view.

"Great," said Seth with disappointment. "We finally manage to find another glove, but it's no better than our own."

"Wait a minute," said Grandma. "Kendra, try wearing both of the gloves at the same time."

"Okay," said Kendra, as she reached her hand out to pick up the original glove, as her body blurred between visible and invisible. She then slipped Coulter's glove onto her right hand, and remained invisible.

"Hey!" exclaimed Kendra, flailing her hands around. "Can anybody see me?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"I'm invisible! Really! I can move around and everything!"

Kendra got up and proceeded to walk around the room. She then pulled a book from out of the bookcase and carried it over to the coffee table. As she moved around, her body was completely invisible; no flickering whatsoever.

"Of course!" said Grandpa. "_This _is why Coulter's glove always seemed to be flawed. It was never broken _or_ incapable! It had just been missing its partner all these years! By wearing only one glove, you're making yourself invisible at only half the power! And now that the two mates have been reunited, these gloves can work the way that they're supposed to!"

Kendra proceeded to removed the left glove from her hand. As she proceeded to place it down on the table, she body started to flicker between visible and invisible again. She then proceeded to pull off the other glove, prompting her body to go back to being fully visible.

"These gloves should be useful," said Clover. "Even though us fairies can achieve invisibility, it can only go so far."

"And our power is nearly useless in a place like the Demon Domain," noted Bright.

"Yeah," said Seth. "I remember when your invisibility wore off pretty quickly in the Demon Domain.

"I think Sarah's presence may have had something to do with that," said Kendra. "But still, it wouldn't have been ideal."

"Let's just hope that these gloves even work in the Demon Domain," said Grandpa. "Although they've been charged with light energy, the gloves themselves are not tools of light."

"This other glove has been a mixed blessing," said Warren. "Although it _does _work in tandem with Coulter's glove, still only one person can wear the pair at once. Any chance of sending two people into the Demon Domain at the same time to infiltrate Murdred's castle is still out of the question."

"Well," said Seth, "better that we have proper invisibility for one person, than semi-invisibility for two."

"Do you think the museum will ever realize that we switched out their authentic glove for an initiation?" asked Ingrid.

"Let's hope not," said Warren. "But why would they? After all, the glove that Clover made appears to be flawless. We were fortunate enough to have Coulter's glove as a ref... Oh dear..."

Warren then smacked his hand against his forehead in distraught.

"What's the matter?" asked Seth.

"The imitation glove," said Warren. "It's modelled after Coulter's _right hand_ glove. And we just switched it for the museum's _left hand _glove."

Seth winced. "The right hand glove that we left in the museum, should've been a left hand glove, right?"

"Sooner or later, somebody who works at the museum is going to put two and two together," said Dale.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" asked Ingrid.

"The safest option would be to return to the museum and replaced the phony right hand glove with a phony left one."

"I can do this," said Warren, as he picked up the left glove and set it down in front of Bright. "Make a copy of this glove. Please!"

"Okay, okay," said Bright, as she used her magic to conjure up a second left glove next to the original, which Warren then picked up.

"I'm going to travel back to the museum to switch out the gloves. Since the guards should still be asleep, the risk level is low. Come on, Clover!"

Warren then pulled out the Translocator. The moment Clover made contact with it, she and Warren seemingly disappeared.

"I hope Warren knows what he's doing," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Not only did we make this mistake in the first place," said Seth, "but I'm actually willing to travel back into the Demon Domain. If you ask me, none of us seem to know what we're doing!"

A moment later, Warren and Clover reappeared in the living room.

"Done and done!" said Warren, holding up the phony right glove. "Mission accomplished!"

Seth sighed as he shook his head. "I wish. Getting the glove was the easy part. Now _I've_ got to head back to the Demon Domain to pay a visit to Murdred."

"It's late," said Grandpa, as Mrs. Sorenson patted Seth on his back. "Let's all head up to bed and worry about this whole ordeal in the morning."


	5. Return to the Demon Domain

**Chapter 5: Return to the Demon Domain**

After a rough night of trying to fall asleep, Seth finally woke up the following morning. The thought of his return visit to the Demon Domain had him more than on edge. He had been tossing and turning in bed for hours, trying to map out just how his mission would play out in his mind.

Once he had risen up from out of bed and placed his feet down on the floor, Seth couldn't help but feel overtired. Part of him wanted to go out, while the other part wanted to just fall back onto the mattress and shut his eyes. Struggling to make a decision in his mind, it did not take long for Seth to decide on leaving his room.

Seth went to the washroom to freshen up, then put on some clean clothes and made his way downstairs. Upon entering the dining room, Seth could see that he was the last one to arrive as he sat down in his seat.

"Good morning, Seth," said Grandma.

"Well," said Seth. "I'm ready. Ready to head off to the Demon Domain."

Grandpa nodded. "We understand, Seth. Now listen. It's okay if you want to change your mind about all of this. Don't feel as though any of us are pressuring you."

Seth shook his head. "No way. Any steps we can take that can get us closer to defeating Murdred, I say we for it."

"Seth, you realize that you won't have much in the way of support," said Warren. "Ideally, only one person should be wearing both of the gloves. If you go, someone like myself or Kendra wouldn't be able to conceal ourselves from the demonic denizens you're sure to encounter."

"What about fairy angels?" asked Seth. "They can hide alongside me in their pocket dimension, can't they?"

"Not quite," said Clover.

"What do you mean?" asked Seth. "We did this before."

"The symbiosis between a human and a fairy is limited to one member on each side. So unfortunately, you can't go running around with an army of fairies at your disposal. Not in the Demon Domain, or anywhere for that matter."

"In other words," said Kendra, "it'd only be safe for _one_ fairy to accompany you."

"I understand," said Seth. "But, what would really benefit me would be if Raxtus could come along as well. Since invisibility is a natural ability for him, the dark energies of the Demon Domain would wear him down more slowly than somebody who was rendered invisible by other means."

"You'll have to ask him," said Dale.

After finishing up with breakfast, Seth went outside through the back door and walked through the backyard. At the edge of the yard stood the entrance to a cave, which served as Raxtus and Geminus' lair.

"Come in, Seth," said Geminus, who was curled up on the cave floor, holding Vanessa in one of her arms.

"Raxtus," said Seth. "I need your help."

"Is this about the Demon Domain?" asked Raxtus, leering over at Seth. "Say no more. Clover told me about your little jaunt yesterday to retrieve that invisibility glove, so that you can infiltrate Murdred's castle."

"Look, I'd really appreciate it if I had your support," said Seth. "In the Demon Domain, I'll only have one fairy by my side."

"This is all so you can hopefully stop Murdred, isn't it?" asked Geminus.

Seth nodded.

"Raxtus, I feel you should go," said Geminus.

"Of course I'll go," said Raxtus. "When I saw Murdred and what he tried to do when he came to Fablehaven, I was devastated. That monster wants to destroy our world, along with all creature of light. Our little Vanessa will never have the chance to grow up."

Seth looked down at Vanessa. The purple hatchling had looked up at her father upon hearing her name being mentioned.

"Seth, I know you despise Murdred as much as the next human," said Geminus, "but for us creatures of light, he's more worse than you can even imagine. His mere presence is like poison to us. He needs to be stopped.

"I understand," said Seth. "Come on, Raxtus. Let's go meet up with Bright in front of the house."

Seth then walked out of the cave, as Raxtus followed along beside him.

"Good luck, you two," said Geminus.

Shortly after, Seth and Raxtus came around to the front of the house, where their family and Bright were waiting.

"Are you absolutely sure you're ready for this?" asked Mr. Sorenson.

"Yes," said Seth. "Nothing that anybody has said has made me want to reconsider."

"Please be careful," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she gave Seth a hug.

"You don't need to remind me to do that," said Seth, returning his mother's hug.

"Man, I'm jealous," said Warren. "You know, if you really don't want to do this, I'd be willing to go in your place. You're not under any obligation, and your power over darkness isn't mandatory."

"It's okay, Warren. I _want _to do this. And the part of me that _doesn't_ want to do this... Well, too bad him him!"

"Way to take charge," said Warren, patting Seth on his shoulder.

"Let's see," said Bright, "I'm currently holding on to all of your gear. Except for the gloves, that is. When we arrive in the Demon Domain, I'll slip into hiding as soon as possible. You and Raxtus will then turn invisible, and you can start exploring. Remember, if you need me for any reason, just give a holler. And if _I_ need something, I'll let you know."

"Got it," said Seth.

"And we've been to the Demon Domain before," said Bright. "At least now we have an idea of what to expect."

"And none of it's pretty," said Seth.

"Well, if you three are all ready," said Clover, "I'll open a portal for you."

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Raxtus' back.

"Take care," said Kendra, as she grasped Seth by his hand and shook it.

"Thank you for doing this," said Ingrid, as she too shook Seth's hand.

"What am I?" asked Raxtus. "Chopped liver?"

"Raxtus," said Geminus, holding up Vanessa in her claws. "We're waiting for you. Say goodbye to Daddy, Vanessa."

Vanessa held up her claw and waved it at Raxtus, then let out a light giggle.

"Good luck to all of you," said Kendra.

"Here we go," said Clover, as she held out her hands. Once they began to glow, a swirling, white portal shot open in front of where she was standing.

"This is it," said Bright, as Clover stepped out of the way of the portal.

Seth started directly into the portal. Beyond it lied the Demon Domain. A world full governed by hatred and disorder. Seth wanted nothing to do with that place. But at the same time, going there meant more to him than anything.

"Goodbye!" said Grandpa.

"We'll be back," said Seth, as Raxtus stepped into the portal, bringing Seth through with him.

The instant that Seth passed through the portal, the world around him shifted from the warm, peaceful surroundings at Fablehaven to the gloomy, fear-inducing landscape of the Demon Domain.

It had been around a month since Seth had last been here. Hoping that he could finally erase the previous experience from his mind, here Seth was back in the Demon Domain. Even though he was not particularly vulnerable like his fairy comrades, the place still filled his soul with a feeling of terror.

Seth glanced around at his surroundings. He appeared to be on a clifftop, where crooked toupe mountains could be seen in every direction. The sky was an intense red from what Seth could see of it through the smokey grey clouds that infested the air above him.

Looking back, Seth could still see the portal just in time to watch as it closed up behind him. No doubt it was being done by Clover back on the other side at Fablehaven.

"Well, where do we go from here?" asked Raxtus, scoping out the Demon Domain for his own eyes to see.

"Well, I'm afraid that every time one of us opens a portal leading into the Demon Domain, we have no control as to where exactly it will take us."

"We're just going to have to explore this place and find out," said Seth.

"I'm going to go into hiding now to conserve my strength" said Bright. "Be careful, you two."

Bright then vanished in a puff of rainbow sparkles. She was now hiding out in her pocket dimension, but as far as Seth could discern, Bright might as well have disappeared. There was no way for him to detect her presence.

"I remember the last time I was here," said Raxtus. "Bright and Bracken had both turned into nightmares. What if something like that were to happen again?"

"It better not," said Seth. "Bright's the only one of us who can open a portal. She's our only way home. But as long as she's unexposed and not losing her power, we should be okay."

"I sure hope so," said Raxtus. "I guess we might as well become invisible now."

Seth, who had been holding onto the gloves, proceeded to slip one of them onto his hand. Wearing it caused him to turn invisible, but only partially. Seth's body still flickered while he proceeded to move his arm around to put the second glove over his other hand. Once that was done, Seth had achieved true invisibility.

"Okay," said Seth. "The gloves seem to work in the Demon Domain."

"My turn," said Raxtus. Seth looked down at the fairy dragon and watched as Raxtus' body quickly shifted from being solid to turning completely transparent.

Seth took in a deep breath. In turn he inadvertently inhaled some of the Demon Domain's stagnant air. Just there mere idea of _being_ in this place felt unsettling to Seth.

"Raxtus, I guess its best that we stay together, then, huh?" asked Seth.

"As long as we're both invisible, then yes. I want you to stay on my back at all times, and not get off unless it absolutely necessary."

"Believe me, I will. The last thing I'd want for either of us is to be stranded somewhere in the Demon Domain."

"I'd be the one who'd get stranded," stated Raxtus. "At least you've got Bright with you to open a portal back home. I don't have that ability."

"Maybe we could've asked Clover to accompany you, like Bright is with me."

"I'm a dragon. A fairy dragon at that. I don't think it works that way for us like it does with humans."

"Look, I have every intention of clinging to you," said Seth. "Now we just need to seek out Murdred's castle."

"And just where, pray tell, is Murdred's castle?" Despite being invisible, Seth could sense from the movement of Raxtus' neck that the fairy dragon was trying to scan the world around him for a glimpse of Murdred's castle.

"Well, I don't really know."

Raxtus sighed. "I guess we're just going to have to search for the castle the old-fashioned way. I really wish that the fairies were able to control where these portals into the Demon Domain actually sent us. Anyway, I guess it's best that we just start searching. You ready to go?"

"I was born ready."

Seth listened as Raxtus proceeded to flap his wings, then lifted himself off of the ground, bringing Seth up with him. As the fairy dragon was invisible, Seth almost felt as though he was just floating in midair. As they rose higher into the air, Seth gazed around at the rugged landscape below him. Mountains and crags scattered across the land. Rivers and lakes, filled with glowing hot lava in lieu of water, were also in plain sight.

"So, where do you suppose this castle is?" asked Raxtus. "You've been there a few times before, have you not?"

"Well, on my previous jaunts to the Demon Domain, I never had the luxury of flying around in the air," replied Seth. On two of my visits, I was caught by the adlets, who brought me to the castle themselves."

"I'd rather not have you give yourself away," said Raxtus. "There's no guarantee that the monsters who find you will be so accommodating. And I don't exactly think that I have the strength to fight any of them off, especially as a fairy dragon on their home turf."

"But wait," said Seth. "On my last trip to the Demon Domain, we got directions to the Murdred's castle from one of the monsters who dwell here."

"Weren't you, Kendra and Warren disguised as adlets that time?"

"Sure were. In fact, it gave us the opportunity to approach the creatures up close. However, they weren't exactly the kindest of creatures. The first of them was this two-headed monstrosity who was infuriated that we were trespassing on his territory, adlets or not. We were fortunate enough to escape with our lives."

"So, how does this help us?" asked Raxtus.

"Well, after we got away from that first monster, the second one that we found wasn't much friendlier. However, with that one, I took the initiative and used my shadow charmer abilities on him to coerce him into giving us directions to Murdred's castle. And the directions were correct!"

"Sounds like a plan," said Raxtus. "But it still seems a little risky."

"What do you mean?" asked Seth. "If we're both invisible, the monsters will never see us coming. This is perfect."

"I hope you're right. But, what do we do if you can't overpower the monster?"

"We'll just leave and try to find someone else. As long as we're invisible, nobody will be able to spot us."

"Just because we're invisible, it doesn't mean that we're undetectable," said Raxtus. "There exist creatures out there with powerful senses of smell, or are able to pick up traces of light or dark energy. If this plan fails, what's to stop a monster from coming after us if this plan doesn't work? Last time, you were disguised as adlets, so anyone that saw you probably dismissed you three as a threat."

"Look, at this point we might as well do _something_," said Seth. "If finding the castle is too much trouble, let's just try to find a monster try my method."

Raxtus sighed. "Might as well."

Raxtus then soared down towards the ground. Still not used to riding atop an invisible dragon, Seth was afraid that he would somehow crash. But instead, Raxtus opted to remain about ten feet above the ground, and proceeded to cruise across the landscape.

"So, these monsters," said Raxtus ."Where do you find these people?"

"No real method. It mostly boils down to luck. Good or bad luck, depending on how you look at the situation."

After soaring over the ground for a good moment, Raxtus came to a slowdown, and then made a landing.

"Raxtus what-"

Raxtus shushed Seth. "Over there," said the dragon in a whisper. "At one o'clock."

Seth glanced ahead, slightly to the right, where an animal that best resembled a Kodiak bear, only sporting horns, spines, massive nails and teeth, was curled up atop a boulder. Larger than a typical bear, the monster turned its head towards Seth and Raxtus and stared directly at them.

"I think it saw us," said Seth a light whisper, as the creature stood up and proceeded to leap down off of the boulder.

"Time to vamoose," said Raxtus.

"Wait," said Seth, as the monster walked closer towards the group, using its large nose to guide itself.

Seth then closed his eyes and focused on the monster. He had to take control of the monster before it was too late.

"Seth..." muttered Raxtus, sounding more concerned as the monster came even closer.

"Got it!" said Seth, as the monsters suddenly stopped in its tracks. "You! Tell us where to find Murdred's castle."

"Murdred's castle?" asked the monster. "Who are you? Why?"

"Because I'm demanding that you do so!" blurted Seth, increasing the mental grip he had on the monster.

The monster growled, and pointed off in another direction. "Go... that way!"

Seth suddenly began to feel funny. For some reason, the hold that he held on the monster seemingly vanished. Suddenly, the monster lunged at Raxtus, and proceeded to clamp itself onto the invisible dragon's body, his claws less than a foot away from Seth's legs.

"Get off of me!" blared Raxtus, as he fought to try and shake the monster off. Seth held on to Raxtus, hoping that he wouldn't fall off.

"What are you?" snarled the monster, who was struggling to penetrate Raxtus' skin.

Seth then remembered something. Vasilis! He had the legendary sword sitting on his back. Without hesitation, Seth drew Vasilis from its sheath. Seth gripped his left hand onto Raxtus' neck, then jammed the sword downwards into the attacking monster's shoulder.

The monster roared in agony and let go of Raxtus. At the same time, Seth pulled Vasilis, now dripping with blood, out of the monster's body.

"I got him," said Seth. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to fly up into the air.

"I think we'll be safe up here," said Seth, looking down at the injured monster that lurked beneath the two of them. "Are you okay?"

"I told you this could be dangerous," said Raxtus. "Do you have any idea how close we came to getting killed? That monster was too strong for me to ward off. And powerful enough to resist your control!"

"He told me where the castle was," said Seth. "I'd say we came out on top."

"Vasilis isn't very powerful here," said Raxtus. "You're fortunate enough that that monster had fleshy skin, not hard scales like I do."

"The good news is, we can fly directly to the castle," said Seth. "It's in that direction."

"Which direction?" asked Raxtus.

"That way," said Seth, pointing to roughly a ten o'clock position.

"I can't see you," said Raxtus.

Seth quickly slipped off his gloves, restoring his visibility.

"_That_ way!" said Seth.

"Got it," said Raxtus, as Seth slipped his gloves back on, rendering himself invisible again.


	6. Some Light Reading

**Chapter 6: Some Light Reading**

The two of them still in their invisible state, Raxtus and Seth proceeded to fly off across the Demon Domain, in what they had supposedly been told was the direction of Murdred's castle.

"You think that monster was _really _telling the truth?" asked Raxtus, who sounded rather doubtful in his tone of voice.

"There was no way for me to be certain," replied Seth. "But he sounded pretty serious for the time that I did have control of him."

"Well, does _any_ of this look familiar to you?"

Seth looked down at the ground below, but was unable to make out any distinguishable landmarks across the Demon Domain.

"Can't say it does. Mind you, I never did get a bird's eye view of this place on any of my previous visits."

"Well, I'd prefer not asking somebody for directions again," said Raxtus. "That monster was a close call, and Vasilis doesn't work at its full power in this world."

"Look, I'm sorry," said Seth. "Some monsters are just more resilient than others. I can't even control one of those stupid adlets."

"Then your plan was flawed. We're lucky that that monster was unable to fly."

"Look, let's just try to keep searching for the castle. At this point, we really don't have much choice."

Raxtus proceeded to fly forward for several more minutes. Before long, a vast, towering structure could be seen protruding from the ground below.

"Is that..."

"Murdred's castle?" asked Seth, finishing off Raxtus' question. "Yup. I'd recognize that place anywhere. See, I told you we'd find it."

Raxtus then soared down towards the castle. As he came closer, Seth could start to make out the gothic architecture that had served as prominent design choice of the building. For once, Seth could actually see just how large the castle really was; he had only ever seen it from the ground before.

"Wow, this place is like Hogwarts," said Seth, as Raxtus flew closer towards the castle. Before he could come in for a landing on one of the castle's many roofs, Raxtus came to an abrupt halt.

"Ow!" blared Raxtus. Seth could sense that the dragon was flapping his wings viciously to keep himself afloat.

"What was that?" asked Seth, seemingly confused by Raxtus' actions.

"I can't get any closer! It's like there's some kind of invisible force field that's keeping me away."

"Aww, great. But it figures. I bet Murdred doesn't want visitors to just barge into his castle and run around with no supervision."

"So, how are we supposed to get into the castle?" asked Raxtus. "You know of a way past this barrier?"

"I didn't even know that there _was_ a barrier. But. it wouldn't surprise me if it was set up by the negafae to keep out intruders. In that case, there isn't much we can do to bypass it. However, every time I went in and out of this castle, I did so by going through the front door. No barrier had to be bypassed or anything."

"Well, let's go in through there," said Raxtus.

"There _is_ a guard," said Seth. "We'll need to be careful."

Raxtus flew down towards the ground, making sure to keep some distance away from the force field. Seth gazed into the lava-filled moat the surrounded the castle, until Raxtus came to a landing on the far side of the bridge that led to the front door.

"I see the guard," said Raxtus. Seth too could see the sentry that guarded the door; a bipedal creature with purple fur that best resembled a cross between a warthog and a gorilla.

With Seth on his back, Raxtus proceeded to walk across the stone bridge. Soon they had reached the other side, where the sentry was standing next to the front door.

"_It's open!" _thought Seth to himself. Hopefully their movement wouldn't attract the sentry's attention.

"Uh, is someone there?" asked the sentry, as Raxtus cautiously walked passed him and through the front door, which had barely been opened enough for the dragon to squeeze through.

Soon Raxtus emerged in the front hall of the castle. As impressive as the entrance to the Smithsonian had seemed, this place was enormous in comparison. As grand as it was, the interior of the castle only brought back memories of the place to Seth that he preferably wished he could forget about.

Raxtus crept away from the door, making his way over to the large staircase in the centre of the room.

Raxtus huffed. "That was pretty easy, huh?"

"Guess they aren't used to folks sneaking around with invisibility in this place," said Seth.

"It's an uncommon ability. Especially amongst creatures of darkness. They tend to thrive more on sheer power, or on destructive abilities. So, where should we go from here?"

"No clue," said Seth. "What we're looking for is information on the Necromaster. But I've got no idea where to find it."

"Well, it had to have come from _somewhere_."

"That parchment that told us where to find the Necromaster. The one that Sarah gave to us. We suspect that it had been torn out of a book. If we can find that book, it might tell us more that we need to know."

"This place is huge," said Raxtus. "Where would we even start looking?"

"Hard to say. It's no doubt important to Murdred if he and Helwic went through all the trouble of giving it that parchment to us so that we could find the Necromaster for Sarah to steal."

"In other words, it's probably not too far from Murdred."

"Unfortunately. Assuming that we're correct. In that case, we might as well head up to the top floor and start our search there."

Raxtus proceeded to sprint up the stairs towards the next floor. Seth held on to the invisible dragon's back tightly as he turned around and made his way up the next flight of stairs. Part of Seth wondered why Raxtus didn't just fly to the top floor. However, he wasn't in the mood to ask questions and potentially distract Raxtus, so he kept his mouth shut.

After a few minutes of dashing up several flights of stairs, Raxtus had reached the top floor. Before them stood a large hallway lined with many doors on each side.

"Murdred's throne room is at the end of the hallway, behind a large set of metal doors," said Seth.

"You think the book might be in there?" asked Raxtus.

"Who knows," said Seth. "But the doors are magically locked. They're voice activated."

"We've come this far. We should at least go and investigate."

Raxtus proceeded down the dank hallway, which was illuminated only by the glowing sconces that lined the walls. Soon they reached the doors leading at the end, which were the entrance to the throne room.

"Even if we _could_ open these doors, I wouldn't want to," said Seth. "Murdred's probably inside, and would suspect that something is amiss if these doors were to suddenly open on their own."

Seth then leaned his head to the side and pressed his ear against the door, cupping his hand around it.

"You hear anything?" asked Raxtus.

Seth shushed him, trying to listen in on any noise on the other side.

"-Don't know what could've caused it," said a feminine voice, whom Seth quickly recognized as Helwic. "It's probably nothing to fret about."

"A creature flying too close to the castle?" said a deeper, groveling voice, which obviously belonged to Murdred. "It probably was just some imbecile. But still. It's been ages since the last time that ever happened."

"Well, at least we know that the spell is still in effect," said Helwic. And that we're alerted whenever someone makes contact with the barrier."

"I'm just glad we even have this barrier," said Murdred. "Ever since that awful day at Fablehaven, my life has been in shambles! I lost so much from all that. I'll _never_ get it back. If only I could've succeeded with Seth."

"He seemed like such a worthy candidate too," said Helwic.

"He's still out there. I know it. We'll find him again. And this time, we _won't_ screw things up! But for now, go find the adlets. I want them to investigate what could've made contact with the barrier. Also, I wish to be alone right now."

"As you command, Lord Murdred," said Helwic. Seth could then hear the negafae walking closer towards the door.

"Someone's coming," said Seth in a whisper. "Back away from the doors!"

Raxtus stepped back from the doors and pressed himself up against a wall. The doors then opened up and Helwic walked out through them, while they quickly closed behind her. Seth watched as the red-headed, fiery-winged negafae continued through the hallway, then proceeded to walk down the stairs. Her mere presence made Seth's heart skip a beat as she passed by.

"I was afraid she could've sensed me," said Raxtus. "What was that all about, anyway?"

"Murdred is still interested in me," said Seth. "But we still need to find that book!"

"I would've run in after Helwic, but I didn't want to draw her attention, and the doors closed too quickly."

"We can't risk getting caught. In our current state, they could destroy us. Look, let's just try one of these other rooms for now."

Raxtus walked away from the double doors at the end of the hall, and approached one of the doors leading into a side room.

"It's locked," said Raxtus. Despite being invisible, Seth could see that the handle was being jostled by an unseen Raxtus.

"Great..." said Seth.

"Maybe I can bust the door down."

"I'd rather you didn't. It'd be a huge giveaway."

"Allow_ me" _said Bright, presumably speaking through use of some sort of telepathy. Suddenly, Seth listened as the lock within the door clicked open.

"Nice," said Seth. "I should've remembered that. It's the same trick Clover used at the museum."

Raxtus then pushed the unlocked door inward and revealed the room that was inside. In the center of it stood Murdred, whose presence made Seth's heart jump. However, a second later, Seth realized that it was not the Demon God, but rather a life-sized statue carved in his presence.

"That scared me!" exclaimed Raxtus.

"Agreed," said Seth, as he glanced around the room. It appeared to be filled with nothing but paintings, busts and other pieces of artwork featuring Murdred. "Wow, I never knew just how vain that Murdred really is."

"What about that book?"

"Doubt it's in here. Let's try another room."

Raxtus backed out of the room and shut the door behind him. He then walked up to another door, which Seth signalled for Bright to unlock. Raxtus passed through into the next room. In it stood several human skeletons that were on display, almost like exhibits.

"Are those... real?" asked Raxtus.

"Oh my god," said Seth, who looked up on the walls. Hung up on the walls was a small collection of human heads, all of which had been mounted like animals. Upon closer inspection, all of the heads appeared to be female; most of which did not appear to be Caucasian.

"Holy," said Seth. "This is horrible!"

"What is it?"

"These are the remains of the sort of people whom Murdred despises! People of different races and beliefs. He keeps them here like they're trophies! Let's just get out of here! I can't look at anything else!"

Wasting no time, Raxtus, retreated from the room and shut the door behind him.

"That was horrific," said Seth. "Even though I was in no danger, it was terrifying. Probably the scariest in existence thing that can't physically harm you."

"I don't like this place," said Raxtus.

"All I want is the book. Not to be traumatized."

"We'll have to keep trying. But if that room was the worst thing you could imagine, then at least the worst is behind us."

Raxtus then came up to another door, which Bright magically unlocked. Raxtus entered it. It was a small room, which contained a large bookcase on the far wall. In the center of the room was a throne, albeit not a large one, surrounded by an end table and a rug. Curtains draped the windows, although the room was kept well-lit by oil lamps. There was also a fireplace in front of the throne, but no fire was burning within it.

"This doesn't seem so bad," said Raxtus, shutting the door behind him. "If you ask me, it's almost kind of cozy."

"Looks can be deceiving," said Seth. "But there's books in here, so that's something."

Seth then climbed down off of Raxtus' back and walked over towards the bookshelf. Looking over at the shelf's contents, there appeared to be well over one hundred books scattered through it, although there was also a fair amount of empty space.

"Which book do you think it is?" asked Raxtus.

"I don't know," said Seth, as he reached for a random book and pulled it off of the shelf.

"I wish I knew how to read," said Raxtus. "Otherwise I'd help you."

"Even if you could read, these books are probably written in demonic texts. But you can help by being a lookout."

Seth then turned open the book he had grabbed. It appeared to be a journal of some sort, as the text had been hand-written in cursive. Although he was wearing the gloves, the fact that they were fingerless made it easy for Seth to turn the book's pages.

"Something tells me Murdred wrote this," said Seth placing the book back on the shelf.

"You think it's useful?" asked Raxtus, whose voice came from the entrance to the room.

"I can't waste time trying to find out," said Seth, as he proceeded to examine the spines of the books that were on the shelf. A good number of them had no text on them, so Seth ignored those for the time being.

Some of the books that Seth discovered were as different as night and day. One of the books was none other than the Holy Bible, while another was a copy of Mein Kampf. Other books appeared to be works that discriminated against women, blacks, Muslims, and more.

"Why does Murdred have to be so sick-minded and cruel?" asked Seth, as he continued to scour the shelves for the book that he was looking for.

"What if the book isn't even here?" asked Raxtus.

"I don't know," said Seth, still going over the books. "A lot of the books have no writing on the spine, so I can't tell what's written in them."

"Well, look inside them anyway."

Seth proceeded to pull out another of the unmarked books and flipped it open. It appeared to be a hate speech against homosexuals which had been written by Murdred. Not wanting to read any more, Seth placed the book back on the shelf.

"If Murdred still thinks that I'd make an ideal disciple to him, he's sadly mistaken," said Seth.

"Maybe I can help," said Bright, as she materialized in front of Seth.

"How?"

"Whenever you hold those books that were written by Murdred, I've been sensing faint traces of darkness from within them. It's essentially harmless, but it's something"

"So, how does that help us?" asked Seth.

"Well, we've figured that the book we want is written in Sylvian. So perhaps I can detect it myself."

Seth nodded. "You might as well give it a shot. I'm not having any luck."

"It won't be easy. This book has probably been here for ages. But it's better than not trying at all."

Bright then closed her eyes and waved her hands around, palms facing the bookshelf that stood before her.

"Finding anything?"

"It's hard. There's so much darkness in this place, any light that could be here would be extremely faint."

After about a minute or so of scanning the shelf, Bright stopped moving her hands upon a specific spot.

"I found something," she said, opening her eyes. Bright then reached forward an pulled a frayed book off one of the shelves.

"What is it?" asked Seth, as Bright opened the blank cover and proceeded to examine the first page.

"This is it!" exclaimed Bright. "I can read it! This book is written in Sylvian! I found it!"

"Are you sure it's the right book?" asked Raxtus.

"It seems to be the _only_ book," stated Bright.

"What does it say?" asked Seth.

"It says something about five ancient relics," replied Bright, thumbing through the book's early pages.

"Five relics?" asked Seth. "You mean like the keys to the Zzyzx?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of the instruments of eternal power. I'll have to keep reading to find out what this all means."

"Err, you guys," exclaimed Raxtus. "I think I heard Murdred out in the hall."

"What?!" gasped Seth.

"I think he's starting to get suspicious," said Raxtus in a loud whisper. "From what I can hear, he thinks something's going on, and he's starting to search these side rooms!"

"Well, at least we're invisible," said Seth. "Hide yourself, Bright!"

"Hold on," said Bright. "We got what we came for, let's just get out of here!"

"With the book?" asked Raxtus. "What if Murdred sees that the book is gone?"

"Would you rather go through all the trouble of getting here a second time?" asked Seth.

"He's getting closer..." muttered Raxtus.

"Let's just go already!" said Bright, using her magic to open a portal in the center of the room.

"I'm in," said Raxtus, who could be heard passing through the portal.

"You next, Seth," said Bright. "I'll close up behind you."

Acknowledging Bright's request, Seth darted up to the portal and proceeded to pass through it.


	7. The Wrong Relic

**Chapter 7: The Wrong Relic**

At the very moment that Seth passed through the portal, he watched as world around him suddenly shifting from the small, dank library in Murdred's castle, into the gorgeous front yard back at Fablehaven.

As Seth took a few more steps forward, he quickly came to an abrupt halt upon hitting an unseen force. Seth didn't have to feel the hard scales to know that he had bumped into Raxtus, who was currently still invisible, as was Seth himself.

"Ow," said Seth.

"Sorry," said Raxtus, as he allowed his body to revert to being visible. "Where's Bright?"

"Right here," said Bright, who had just darted through the portal. "Is Seth here?"

"Yeah," said Seth, whom Bright was unable to see with her own eyes.

"Good," said Bright, as she turned around and quickly used her power to shut the portal that was floating behind her.

"Here, let me take these off," said Seth, as he proceeded to removed both of the gloves from off of his hands, which in turn brought himself back into proper sight.

"Well, we made it," said Bright, as she breathed a sigh of relief. "We made it out of there, and I've got reason to believe that Murdred didn't even suspect we were there."

"And we got the book," said Seth, feeling around his body with his hands. "Uh, where is it?"

"I've got it," replied Bright, holding up the book in her hand.

"Mission accomplished," said Raxtus.

"Come on," said Seth. "Let's go inside and so we can show the others."

"You two go on ahead," said Raxtus. "I'm gonna head back to my lair. I'm sure my girls are worried sick about me already."

The group then walked up towards the front porch of the house. From there, Raxtus continued around to the side of the house, while Seth and Bright proceeded to enter through the front door.

"We're back!" shouted Seth, as he and Bright both stepped through the front door and into the entry hall of the house.

"Welcome back," said Mr. Sorenson, as he and his wife both walked up to Seth.

"Are you all okay?" asked Mrs. Sorenson, placing an arm around her son's shoulder.

"We're fine," said Seth with a smile. "And we got what we were looking for!"

"You found that book?" asked Grandpa, as he entered the hallway, coming from the direction of his study.

"Let's not stand around in this hallway," said Grandma. "Come on, everybody grab a seat."

The growing crowd made their way into the living room and plopped themselves down onto a seat. Before long, everybody in the house had seated themselves down in the living room.

"This is incredible," said Grandpa, admiring the book that Bright was presently holding within her hands. "The book is still intact! And you actually managed to find it! Well done."

"It was a close call," said Seth. "Murdred was on the verge of spotting us by the time we were ready to leave."

Kendra dropped her jaw. "You don't suspect that he might know what's you were up to? What's he going to do if he notices this book is gone?"

"Hold on," said Seth, holding up his hands. "We knew full well what we were getting into by travelling to the Demon Domain in first place. And besides, the text in this book is written in Sylvian. I doubt he's fluent in Sylvian, so he probably won't want to sit down and read it anytime soon."

"What was a Sylvian book doing in Murdred's castle to begin with?" asked Ingrid.

"It's was probably stolen at some point," said Warren.

"What's actually written in this book?" asked Grandpa.

"Well, I didn't have a chance to actually read much of it," replied Bright. "But it said something about five ancient relics."

"Five relics?" asked Grandma. "You mean like the artifacts, or the instruments?"

"That's what we thought," stated Seth. "But if this is the same book where that pamphlet which told us about the Necromaster actually came from, perhaps it's talking about... Other relics."

"You can't be serious," said Mr. Sorenson.

"Yeah," added Grandpa. "Besides, the Necromaster is supposedly an object of demonic origin. What would a Sylvian book have to do with it?"

"How about somebody actually _reads_ the book?" asked Clover. "Then we'll know for sure what it says."

"I could read it," said Kendra. "And I'll translate it by typing out what I read on Dad's computer."

"Great," said Grandpa. "Well then, Kendra, would you mind getting started on this task?"

"Can do. I'm starting to get used to this sort of thing now anyway."

Kendra then got up and brought the book upstairs. She entered her parent's bedroom and sat down in front of the computer that was on their desk. Next, Kendra, opened up a word processing program. As she turned over the front cover of the book, she proceeded to type down everything that she read in English.

Although the book was not very long, the whole process took well over an hour for Kendra to get everything down from start to finish. As she read through the book, Kendra was most intrigued by all the information that it contained. As she pored through the writings, she was unable to stop reading. Part of her wanted to finish up and show the others what she was discovering as she was reading it. But instead she kept going.

As Kendra got through to the later half of the book, she discovered that several pages had in fact been torn out. It was no surprise that the page that talked about the Necromaster was missing, since it was no doubt the exact same one that Sarah had presented to them.

At long last, Kendra had translated the book from cover to cover, or at least what was actually available for her to read. Her work completed, Kendra proceeded to print off several copies of the entire document, then stapled the papers together.

Kendra then returned downstairs with the English transcript of the book, and soon enough everybody had gathered around in the living room again.

"Man, this sure brings back memories," said Warren, flipping through his copy of the transcript. "It's just like when we found that tome back at Living Mirage that contained information about the instruments of eternal power. "

"It's odd," said Grandpa. "Up until we learned about the Necromaster, I'd never so much as even heard about these five relics. Although obscure, I had at least heard about the instruments of eternal power in passing before the tome was found."

"At least we know now that the Necromaster is actually part of a set," said Grandma, "and not a stand alone object."

"I can't believe that some of the pages had been ripped out of the book," said Seth. "They would've told us where we could find the other relics!"

"It's unfortunate," said Grandpa, "but while we don't know the whereabouts of these other pages, or what could've caused them to have gone missing, pondering about it isn't going to help."

"I have a hunch that Murdred probably has them in safe keeping," said Kendra.

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense," said Seth. "I mean, if Murdred has the whole book, why rip out select pages and keep only those ones hidden? Why not hide the entire book?"

"Well, at least we now know of the five relics," said Grandpa. "In addition to the Necromaster we're aware of the other four."

"Yeah," said Ingrid. "There's the Diavolt, which has power over electricity."

"There's the Sapphazure, which has power over water," noted Mr. Sorenson.

"The Pyruby, which is associated with fire," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"And the Emerock, which is connected to the Earth," said Grandma.

"I can understand how these other four relics are related to the elements," said Ingrid. "But what's with the Necromaster? It's just supposed to kill!"

"Well," said Kendra, "you need to read the section that describes the origin of these relics again. See, the five of them were created by negafae with the power to devastate the world. However, before they could be put to use, fairies intervened and stole the five relics, which they then put into hiding in different vaults."

"However, while the Necromaster can only be used for destruction," said Grandma, "it would seem that the other relics are neutral. Ergo, they can be used for either good or evil intentions."

"Lot of good that'll do us," said Seth. "So long as their pages are missing, we don't have any information as to the whereabouts of most of these other vaults."

"Well, we are somewhat fortunate," said Grandpa. "One of the those pages _was_ still in the book."

"Yeah, we managed to find out that the Diavolt is in vault called Storm Sanctum," said Warren. "In theory, there's nothing stopping us from travelling there and exploring the place."

"Excuse me," said Seth, holding up his hand. "But, what good is another one of these relics going to do for us? We can't even figure out how to get the Necromaster to function!"

"That's no reason to rule out not pursuing one of the other relics," said Mr. Sorenson. "Maybe the Necromaster, seeing how it doesn't fit in with the elemental theme of the other relics, works differently than one might think."

"It would also give us more to work with," said Grandma. "As far as an analysis of the relics is concerned."

"Its times like these that make me wish my parents were still around," said Bright. "They knew all sorts of information regarding fairy history that no other fairies know about. Perhaps they would've known more about these relics."

"Either way, two relics are better than one," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"All I wanted to do was defeat Murdred for good," said Seth. "But what if the Diavolt offers no help. Even if we can get it work, what good will it do? Warren blew Murdred's head off with a gun at one point, and it magically grew back. A few thousand volts to his body probably won't fare much better."

"Even if it can't stop Murdred," said Dale, "having a tool like that around would probably come in handy."

"Besides, there's no reason that we can't at least make an effort to travel to Storm Sanctum to see if we can find the Necromaster," said Clover.

"Yeah, we know where it is," said Kendra.

"Where, exactly?" asked Ingrid, flipping through her notes.

"Storm Sanctum is located up in the sky, on an island known as Cloud Canyon."

"An island?" asked Ingrid. "In the sky? That's ridiculous! It sounds like something out of Gulliver's Travels!"

"Ingrid, Ingrid," said Seth. "If you're _ever_ going to adapt to the truth about plausibility, you need to throw your old perceptions straight out the window. A lot of what you thought that seems impossible is in fact, possible."

"I know, I know," exclaimed Ingrid. "But, how can an island float? And don't tell me it's magic."

"I refuse to answer that question," said Warren, "on the grounds that you won't accept my answer."

"When can we head out to Cloud Canyon?" asked Kendra.

"As long as everybody is ready, I see no reason to delay the trip," said Grandpa.

"Hold on," said Ingrid, "you guys are just going to head out to an island in the sky? Doesn't that sound remotely dangerous to anybody?"

"I'm used to danger," said Seth. "Besides, it's not like we haven't explored a number of other vaults before."

"You've told me about those adventures. But, it would seem a lot more reasonable if this vault were located somewhere on the surface of the Earth."

"It's not a big deal," said Warren. "Besides, we can fly up to Cloud Canyon on Raxtus and Geminus."

"Ingrid," said Mrs. Sorenson, "perhaps it's best if you don't go along on this trip. It could be dangerous, and if you're that worried, then there's little reason for you to join the others."

"I guess you're right," said Ingrid.

"Before anybody goes anywhere," said Grandpa, "I think that we should contact Agad, explain what we've come across and see if he'd be willing to return the Necromaster to us. As long as we're going after another one of the relics, we might as well keep it on hand so that we can make comparisons between the two.

"I'll get started on lunch a little later," said Grandma. "After that, maybe you can head out on your journey to Cloud Canyon."

* * *

Some time later, Kendra, Seth and Ingrid were sitting by themselves in the parlor, talking about their upcoming expedition.

"So you think that whatever sort of magic that enables Pileus Palace to float, is the same thing for Cloud Canyon?" asked Ingrid.

"It's a good guess," replied Kendra. "Of course, the book offered no explanation for it. It's just conjecture."

"But Pileus Palace and all those other vaults weren't built by fairies," said Seth. "But Storm Sanctum and the Floodmaze allegedly were."

"Guys!" said Warren, whose voice was echoing in from the other room. Check this out! You won't believe what I found!"

Kendra, Seth and Ingrid all got up and made their way into the kitchen, where Warren's voice had come from. Standing in the middle of the kitchen was Warren. Not only was he sopping wet, but he was holding the Necromaster within his hand.

"Warren, what you _doing_?" asked Ingrid.

"I just made a huge discovery!" exclaimed Warren, as he wrung some water out of his hair.

"Like what?" asked Seth. "That you _can't_ walk on water?"

"Listen! This is incredible!"

"What's incredible?" asked Grandpa, as he and the other adults entered the kitchen.

"I don't care if something's incredible!" shrieked Grandma. "Warren, you're dripping water all over my floor!"

"Sorry, but this just couldn't wait!" said Warren, as water continued to drip down from his soggy clothes.

"Enough with the suspense!" said Seth. "Warren, what do you have to show us?"

"Come outside and I'll show all of you!"

"Don't you want to at least change into some dry clothes?" asked Mrs. Sorenson.

Warren shook his head. "I may want to pass on changing my clothes, in case I happen to get soaked again."

Warren then made his way out through the back door of the house. From there, he walked down off of the patio and made his way into the middle of the backyard.

"All right, everybody!" said Warren proudly. "Brace yourselves! I have finally figured out how to work the _Necromaster_!"

"Then how come you're all wet?" asked Ingrid.

"I really hope you didn't experiment with that thing on anyone," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Want to know how I figured out how this thing worked?" asked Warren. "It's simple. I figured out how the _Necromaster_ worked, by figuring out that it was not, in fact, the Necromaster!"

"What do you mean?" asked Kendra. "How is that relic _not_ the Necromaster?"

"Well, for one thing, nobody's been able to tap into this relic's power all the while we've had possession of it. And now we've found out that there's other relics that are out there somewhere. So, I put two and two together, and that equals four. Four other relics, that is. And since the Necromaster just wasn't exactly capable of killing anybody, it got me thinking. What if this this relic we stumbled across is, for whatever reason, not in fact the Necromaster?"

"How's that possible?" asked Seth. "That parchment not only led you guys to the Floodmaze, but it claimed that the Necromaster was there as well."

"It was only half right, then," said Warren. "Because this relic is in fact, the Sapphazure."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Seth, as he sneered at Warren.

"'fraid not. This relic is not the Necromaster."

"Prove it," said Seth, as he crossed his arms.

"Oh ye of little faith," said Warren, as stepped away from the group with the Necromaster. Or the Sapphazure. Whatever it actually was. Warren held up the triangular, golden relic, with the sapphire embedded within it facing outwards. "Watch this!"

The sapphire within the relic started to glow brilliantly. Suddenly, a small torrent of water came gushing out of the relic, and blasted itself directly at Seth.

"Hey," said Seth, as he held up his arms in an attempt to block the flow of water that was being sprayed at him.

"Easy, Warren!" said Kendra, as she continuously felt droplets of splash back ricocheting off of Seth and onto her body.

"I think he gets it," said Warren as he brought the power of the relic to a halt.

Seth was now soaking wet himself. "Oh, that was_ not_ fair!" he blurted.

"You didn't seem very enthusiastic about my little revelation about the Necromaster. Or should I say, the Sapphazure.

"I get it!" cried Seth. " I get it!"

"Warren, that's incredible!" said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Seth brought up a good point," said Kendra. "Why did the paper lead us to believe that the Necromaster was located within the Floodmaze, when really, it was the Sapphazure that was there instead?"

"Beats me," said Warren. "Either it was a very huge error, or the Necromaster had been there at one point, only to get relocated later on, and the book was never revised."

"So, now that we've got this Sapphazure, what are we supposed to do with it?" asked Ingrid.

"Well, none of us had any real plans for it," said Grandpa. "Even if we knew it was the Sapphazure from day one, I don't know what we could use it for."

"If you don't mind, Stan, I think I'll hold onto it," said Warren. "It might come in handy at some point."

"Go ahead. It might even help you when you go to Cloud Canyon. But please, don't soak my grandson with it again."

"I've got a question," said Ingrid. "If you found the Sapphazure where the Necromaster allegedly was, then what's to ensure that you'll find the Diavolt where the book allegedly claims it is?"

Everybody looked at each other. Ingrid had brought up a good point. If they were to make it to Storm Sanctum, who could say whether they'd find the Diavolt at all? They could find the Necromaster, one of the other relics, something else entirely, or nothing at all.


	8. Onward and Upward

**Chapter 8: Onward and Upward**

After Warren had given his little demonstration of the Sapphazure, Seth went back inside the house to dry himself off and change into some fresh coins. Shortly after that, everyone sat down to a lunch that Grandma had prepared, which consisted of various sandwiches and a garden salad.

Not long after lunch was over, the doorbell had rung. Dale proceeded to make his way to the front door and opened it. Kendra and Seth, who were waiting around in the living room at the time, looked into the entry hall and smiled as Bracken entered the room.

"Hey, guys!" said Bracken, flashing a beautiful smile at everybody in the room.

"Bracken!" exclaimed Kendra, as she bolted up from her seat, dashed over to the human unicorn, and threw her arms around his body.

"Hey, Kendra," said Bracken, hugging her back. "How are you?"

"Great! Just great!"

"Thank you for agreeing to come, Bracken," said Grandpa. "And on such short notice, too."

"Well, Bright sent word to the Fairy Kingdom about the discovery that she and Seth made in the Demon Domain almost immediately. Between the disappearance of my mother, and my duties of restoring the Fairy Realm, I thought I could use a change of pace. Besides, it gives me a chance to be with Kendra, here."

"I'm glad you can come," said Warren. "We can always use the extra help."

"There's one thing I didn't quite get," said Bracken. "And forgive me, but my geographical knowledge of this world isn't that great. But, where exactly is Cloud Canyon?"

"It's an island that floats in the sky," replied Grandma. "Apparently, it's located somewhere over Scotland."

"Scotland?" asked Ingrid. "How are you even going to get there?"

"The Translocator," replied Warren. "You see, Kendra and I have been to Scotland before. More specifically, the Stony Veil preserve is located there."

"But the Translocator will only serve as a shortcut to Scotland," said Seth. "However, we have the coordinates to Cloud Canyon's exact location, and it doesn't seem too far from Stony Veil, from what we can tell."

"Yeah, and one we explore Cloud Canyon, enter Storm Sanctum and retrieve the Diavolt, we can travel straight back here," said Clover.

"That's _if_ the Diavolt even _is_ in Storm Sanctum," said Mrs. Sorenson. "The other parchment was wrong about the Necromaster being in the Floodmaze."

"Well, the Floodmaze was underwater," said Bracken. "And the Sapphazure is water-based, so maybe it was an error."

"Storm Sanctum sounds like it promises electricity," said Bright. "But that doesn't guarantee that we'll find the Diavolt there. It could be another relic, or nothing at all."

"Whatever it is," said Warren, "we should at least try to find out. Is everybody ready?"

Kendra, Seth and their allies all responded by shouting positively.

"Great, then let's round up the dragons and we'll be on our way!"

Everybody made their way out through the back door of the house and continued through the garden until they had arrived at the entrance to Raxtus and Geminus' cave. As if on cue, the two fairy dragons stepped out of the cave, along with Vanessa, who was currently being held in Raxtus' arms.

"I guess it's that time," said Geminus, looking over at Raxtus and nodding.

"I had a feeling that this solitude wouldn't last forever," said Raxtus.

"So, who here is going on this trip?"

Kendra, Seth, Warren, Bracken and Clover all raised their hands.

"What about you, Bright?" asked Raxtus.

"As much as I'd like to come," replied Bright, "this trip isn't a huge priority, and it's best if a fairy angel like myself stays behind here at Fablehaven."

"We'll try not to be gone too long," said Clover with a grin, as she winked at Bright.

"We'll be back later, sweetie," said Geminus, as she bent forward and kissed Vanessa. "Be good!"

Vanessa giggled as Raxtus then proceeded to give his daughter a kiss.

"You guys don't mind looking after Vanessa, right?" asked Raxtus.

"Can I look after Vanessa?" asked Ingrid, looking up at Raxtus and Geminus.

"Well, uh..." muttered Geminus.

"Ingrid, do you even know _how_ to look after a baby dragon?" asked Raxtus.

"But, I..."

"I'll look after Vanessa," said Dale, raising his hand. "And Ingrid, you can help me."

"Really?" asked Ingrid. "Great!"

Raxtus nodded at Geminus. "Okay," he said. "As long as Dale's working with you, we don't have any objections."

Raxtus then bent down and handed Vanessa over to Ingrid, who accepted the hatchling into her arms.

"Okay," said Warren as he held out the Translocator. "Next stop, Stony Veil!"

Kendra, Seth, Bracken, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus all gathered around Warren, and turned to face the rest of the family.

"Good luck on your trip!" said Mr. Sorenson.

"Hope you all manage to find another relic!" said Grandpa. "Whichever one it's supposed to be."

Everyone then bid farewell to each other as the group all made contact with the Translocator. Warren then twisted it again, and it pulled all of them through. One moment, the group was standing in the yard at Fablehaven. The next, it was standing in an unfamiliar clearing.

"What is this place?" asked Seth, as he let go of the Translocator. He looked around and saw that they were in a field of some nature, with trees scattered around them. The sky above was full of grey clouds.

"Are we at Stony Veil?" asked Kendra. "I don't... recognize anything."

"Not quite," said Warren. "We're near it, though. See, we're trying to keep this mission low key. And, since we don't have to pass through Stony Veil, there was little reason to get the workers there involved."

"So, where are we supposed to go from here?" asked Raxtus.

Warren pulled out and unfolded a map of Great Britain, which he went over with the dragons.

"So, we're here?" asked Geminus, as Warren pointed to a spot on the map. "That's nothing! We can get to Cloud Canyon in almost no time at all."

"Climb aboard," said Raxtus, as he bent down, followed by Geminus.

Kendra proceeded to climb up onto Raxtus' back, followed by Bracken, who sat behind her.

"Aww," said Seth. " I wanted to ride Bracken again! Nothing personal, Geminus."

"I get it," said Geminus. "Boys don't want to ride a pink dragon. It'll hurt their image."

"I'm not complaining," said Warren, as he hopped onto Geminus' back. "And don't take this the wrong way, Geminus, but pink is _really_ not my color."

"Can't I ride with Kendra?" asked Seth.

"I kinda want to be with Bracken for a while," said Kendra, as the unicorn prince placed his comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But Bracken, you can fly!" muttered Seth.

"Come on, Seth," said Warren. "Don't be such a baby."

"All right," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Geminus, sitting himself behind Warren.

"See you guys at the top," said Clover, as she disappeared in a cloud of green sparkles.

"You folks all ready?" asked Geminus.

"Ditto?" chimed Raxtus.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Seth. "Let's get going already!"

Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to flap their wings, and the two dragons suddenly launched their bodies into the air. As they flew up towards the sky, Seth looked down at the world beneath him. There were miles upon miles of lush greenery, dotted with hills, cliffs and several bodies of water.

Once they rose high enough, the two dragons flew up and through the storm clouds that were spanning across the sky. To Seth and Kendra, passing through the the clouds felt as though they were soaring through a thick field of fog.

Eventually, the dragons had made their way through the layer of storm clouds, rising up past the top. Above them now was a blue sky, along with scattered, whiter clouds.

"Wow!" exclaimed Kendra. "If it weren't for those rain clouds, there weather here would be beautiful!"

"Okay," said Warren, looking over the map that he was holding "Now we need to go north from here."

"North is that-a-way," said Raxtus, pointing off in another direction.

"Got it!" said Geminus, as she and Raxtus proceeded to fly off in the direction in which he had pointed.

"I keep forgetting," said Seth. "You dragons have an excellent sense of direction. You don't even need a compass!"

"Call it intuition," said Raxtus.

"I'd still be lost, though," said Geminus. "I wasn't born a dragon like Raxtus, here."

"Well, I've got a compass on me anyway," said Warren. "Just in case. It never hurts to be prepared."

The dragons continued to fly onwards, swerving around several giant bluffs composed out of clouds, other times charging directly through them.

After a rather short ride, Seth and Kendra could both see a large landmass seemingly just floating in the distance ahead of them.

"Is that it?" asked Bracken.

"It's gotta be!" replied Raxtus. "No way that book could be wrong."

"It was wrong was about the Necromaster," said Warren. "It could be that this place is _not_ Cloud Canyon, but somewhere else altogether."

The dragons came in closer towards the landmass, which appeared to be as wide as a small city, and and tall as a mountain. Also, it did not appear to be but one single island, but rather several smaller islands, not all of which were level, that were connected by stone bridges.

"This place is _huge_!" said Seth.

"Pileus Palace has _nothing_ on this place," said Kendra. "It was just a large, floating building compared to all of this!"

"So, this is Cloud Canyon, then," said Raxtus. "Whereabouts is Storm Sanctum?"

"I have absolutely no idea," said Warren. "All the book told us was that Storm Sanctum is somewhere within Cloud Canyon."

"I guess our only option now is to land somewhere and start exploring the place," said Geminus.

"Agreed," said Raxtus, as he flew up towards the closest ledge, followed by Geminus. The two dragons descended down towards the ground, where they came to a full stop.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Kendra, as she climbed down from off of Raxtus. It was as her boots came down towards the ground that she noticed just how long and unruly the grass was; some of the blades came up past her waist.

"Man, this place sure is unkempt," said Seth, as he got down from off of Geminus, followed by Warren. "I guess I'm spoiled by living at Fablehaven."

"Hey, I'm sure if this place had Dale, Hugo, Mendigo, eight reindeer and too many fairies to count, it would like nicer too," said Warren.

"Well, here's one fairy to help the cause," said Clover, as she reappeared next to Warren.

"No need to flatter us, Clover," said Bracken. "This place is not our home."

"Somebody might live here," said Kendra.

"Yeah," said Seth. "Monsters. Mean, nasty ones."

"You think any fairies might live here, Bracken?"

"Not by choice," replied the unicorn. "They wouldn't want to stray too far from any shrines."

"Great," said Warren. "That means if we run into anybody here, don't expect them to greet us with open

arms."

Seth walked over towards the edge of the island, then bent down onto his knees between several blades of the untamed grass. Peering down, he could see nothing but a layer of clouds that were a presumably a few hundred feet beneath him.

"It sure is a long way down," said Seth. "What do you suppose is the purpose of a floating island such as this?"

"Protection," replied Bracken. "While we know very little about Cloud Canyon, it was no doubt created to isolate either somebody and/or something from the rest of the world. And they've done a good job, because even man-made aircraft or technology has yet to discover it."

"Seth, get away from the edge," said Kendra. "The last thing we need is for you to fall."

"Relax," said Raxtus. "We've got your backs in case one of you were to take a plunge."

"I guess we should just start exploring this place," said Geminus, gazing over at the other islands that Cloud Canyon was composed of.

Everybody then got back onto the dragons of which they had previously arrived on, while Clover disappeared again.

"Why doesn't Clover just ride with us?" asked Seth.

"The less weight I have to carry on my back, the better," replied Geminus. "Besides, going into stasis only conserves her magic."

Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to march towards the other side of the island on foot. The section they were on at the moment appeared to be rather flat, while in the distance, more mountainous islands could be seen.

After a few minutes of walking, the dragons had reached a bridge that linked the island they were currently on to another. The bridge, which appeared to be roughly one-hundred feet long, had been constructed out of white marble. While it was sufficiently wide enough with ample space for both dragons to walk across simultaneously, lacked barriers on its sides.

As the dragons walked across the bridge, something suddenly caught Kendra's attention. There appeared to be a loud, whooshing noise coming from beneath the bridge.

"Hold it," said Kendra. "I hear something."

"What is it?" asked Bracken, once Raxtus and Geminus came to a stop.

"I hear it too!" cried Seth, as he too heard the same noise that had intrigued Kendra.

"What is it?" asked Bracken.

"I want to say its the wind blowing between the islands below us," replied Warren. "But, I can't quite put my finger on it."

The noise then passed beneath the group again.

"I want to check this out," said Seth, as he leapt down off of Geminus and scurried over to one side of the bridge. Gripping the bridge with his hands, Seth peered down at the abyss beneath him,

"Careful," said Kendra, as she got down off of Raxtus.

"I'm careful," said Seth, gazing down at the sky. A moment later, Seth witnessed a large, silvery dragon soaring beneath the bridge. "Whoa!"

The sight of the dragon startled Seth, causing him to lose the handle he had on the bridge. He quickly bolted away from the edge.

"What was that about?" asked Kendra.

"There's a dragon flying beneath us!" gasped Seth. "A really big one! I'm talking _Navarog_ big!"

"Did it see you?" asked Raxtus.

"I don't think so."

"Good. Because this place is probably its territory. If we're spotted it'll no doubt try to attack us, and I'd rather it didn't."

"What did it look like?" asked Kendra.

"It was hard to tell," said Seth. "I mean, it whizzed by really quickly. Raxtus, why don't you turn invisible and see if we can get a closer look? I've got the gloves, remember?"

Seth proceeded to hold up the aforementioned invisibility gloves.

"I'd rather not get involved with that dragon you saw," said Raxtus. "Anyway, the sound it was making has stopped, so I have reason to assume that it's gone now."

"I see," said Seth, as he slipped the gloves back into his bag.

"Look, if there's a dragon here, we should be fortunate that we didn't draw its attention," said Geminus. "Hopefully."

"We'll need to be careful," said Bracken. "If we _had_ been flying around the place, we would've been a much more obvious target for that dragon."

"But this place is huge," said Raxtus. "We're going to have to fly around at some point, I can just tell."

"Well, let's try to keep the flying to a minimum. Keep low and only fly around if it's its absolutely necessary."

Everybody got back onto Raxtus and Geminus, and the dragons proceeded to continue crossing the bridge. Before long, they had reached the island that lay on the other side. Unlike the island they had initially landed on, this one consisted of many hills and knolls.

"Look at this place," said Seth. "We could be here for weeks trying to figure out where Storm Sanctum is."

"If that's what it takes," said Warren. "The good news is we have the Translocator, and we've been here. So at least we have to ability to travel between here and Fablehaven whenever we want."

"I know. But I'm concerned. How long is it going to take for us to even find the relic that's here?"

"Couldn't tell you," replied Bracken. "With no further clues to work with, our only real option would be to keep exploring. Hopefully, we can find out where it is without too much trouble."

"I just hope that that dragon doesn't spot us," said Kendra. "If it's as big as Navarog, like Seth claimed, it's not something I really want to be confronted with. And the more time we spend running around this place, the more opportunity it gets to try and find us."

"Look, there's a little tunnel in that hill up ahead," said Bracken. The direction he was pointing in drew everyone's attention over towards a small opening leading into a cave up ahead.

"You think that's the entrance to Storm Sanctum?" asked Seth, as the dragons bolted over towards the cave entrance.

"Doubt it," said Raxtus as he stopped in front of the cave and peered inside. "This cave goes nowhere. It's a dead end."

Seth started into the cave. Barely large enough for a human to enter, it appeared to be no more than ten feet deep.

"I think we're going to be here awhile," said Kendra.

"I say that we need to come up with a better strategy regarding this whole thing," said Warren.


	9. Gate Crashers

**Chapter 9: Gate Crashers**

Seth soon found himself having climbed up to the top of a small, nearby tree. Gazing around at his surroundings, he could see several more massive landmasses floating in the air. However, while their topsides all appeared to have lush greenery growing on them, none of these other islands had any distinguishable landmarks that he was able to make out.

"Seth, get down from there," said Kendra, crossing her arms as she turned her head up to face her brother.

"Hey, I'm just trying to get a better view of this place without resorting to floating around," said Seth, as he proceeded to climb down the bough of the tree, making sure he had a place to rest his feet with step he took. Foliage brushed against his body, until he reached a point where there were no more branches between himself and the ground.

"Well, something tells me that we won't be able to spot Storm Sanctum by search for it from a distance," said Bracken. "Especially from a single, arbitrary spot like that tree."

"Well, excuse me," said Seth, as he leapt down from the bottom branch and landed on the long grass beneath him.

"Bracken's got a point," said Warren. "And searching this place out on foot doesn't seem very practical."

"Yeah," added Geminis. "As long as we keep walking around, we're only able to explore the top surfaces of this place. The sides of these islands, as well as their undersides, could hold a lot more than meets the eye."

"But, what if we get spotted?" asked Kendra. "That big dragon that Seth saw. It could spot us. And what if there's more like it?"

"I don't know," said Warren. "But I don't want to tango with that dragon or any of its_ friends_. However, flying around _would_ be a viable option, so long as we can elude any real threats."

"Okay, then," said Bracken. "We'll continue this exploration on the backs of the dragons."

"Sounds good to me," said Raxtus, as he lowered his body so that it was easy for somebody to climb atop of him. Likewise, Geminus gave a similar gesture.

Kendra then climbed up onto Raxtus' back and seated herself. A moment later, Bracken sat down behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders for support.

At the same time, Seth climbed up onto Geminus and sat down, with Warren sitting behind him.

"You think we ought to split up?" asked Geminus.

"Not a bad idea," said Bracken. "Seth, you have that coin I gave you?"

"Right here," said Seth, pulling the old coin that Bracken had given him out of his pouch, which allowed the two of them to communicate across long distances.

"Good," said Kendra, "Even if we're not together, it's still good that we have a way of contacting each other."

"Yeah, we can't make phone calls up here," said Warren. "No bars."

"Magic one, technology zero," said Geminus, as Seth placed the coin back into his pouch.

"Let me know when magic can out-do the internet," said Seth. "Then you'll _really_ impress me."

Kendra looked around. "So, where should we start exploring?"

"I'm not sure," said Bracken. "We might as well just split up and go our separate ways. But... wait. Seth, you have those invisibility gloves. That's good. But, what does Kendra have to defend herself with?"

"You?" asked Seth.

Bracken laughed. "I was thinking more of a tool. It's too bad the gloves are impractical when they're not used together, otherwise Seth and Kendra could each hold on to one."

"Why not the Translocator?" asked Warren, as he pulled out the artifact and tossed it over to Bracken. "If she's in danger, it's an excellent escape plan."

"This works," said Bracken, placing the Translocator into Kendra's pouch.

"Okay," said Raxtus. "Here we go!"

Raxtus immediately took to the air and flew up off of the island. Kendra turned her head and watched as Geminus did the same, but headed in a different direction. Soon Raxtus came to the edge of the island, and proceeded to soar down the side.

Raxtus hugged the wall of the cliff, which was as tall as a skyscraper, but much, much wider. Kendra inspected every section of the cliffside as Raxtus soared past it.

"You two see anything unusual?" asked Raxtus, as he veered around a corner of the island.

"This island is huge," gasped Kendra, as she gazed down towards the bottom of the island. "We could be investigating this one island for hours."

"Well, maybe with another team looking out as well," said Raxtus, "we'll be able to cover more ground."

* * *

Elsewhere in Cloud Canyon, soaring between the chasm between two floating islands, was Geminus, with Seth and Warren riding on her back.

"Man, we're never going to get anywhere," said Seth, as Geminus swerved around the outer corner of an island and into the open sky. Nothing out here but rocks, rocks and more rocks!"

"I wonder where that dragon you saw parks its keister when its not flying," said Warren. "It must have a lair somewhere."

"Unless it too is a visitor," said Geminus. "But I wouldn't bet on it."

"Is there any way for us to find out?" asked Seth.

"If that dragon ever spots us, you can ask him," said Warren.

Geminus swerved around another corner, and was soon back in a large crevice that stood between two of the islands. After a moment or so of flying, Seth then noticed a small alcove situated in the side of one of the rocks, not too far from the bottom.

"Look, over there," said Seth, pointing to the alcove.

"Hey, you found something!" exclaimed Warren.

"I see it," said Geminus, as she slowed down and came to a landing in the entrance of the alcove. Once the dragon came to a stop on solid ground Seth and Warren got down from Geminus. From what Seth could tell, the far wall of the alcove was only fifteen feet from the entrance.

"This can't be the dragon's lair," said Seth. "It was too big to fit in a place like this."

"Maybe so," said Geminus, looking upwards. "But look up there."

Seth gazed up and saw that the cave they were in was actually the bottom of a shaft, which was roughly forty feet high.

"Guess there's something here after all," said Seth. "Should we tell the others?"

"Let's see what's here first," said Warren.

"It's too narrow for me to fly up directly," said Geminus. "But I can climb up. Grab my back, both of you."

Seth and Warren got onto Geminus' back, each of them holding onto one of the dragon's shoulders. Geminus then clasped onto the wall with her claws and proceeded to swiftly climb upwards. Experiencing no real hurdles, Geminus soon made it to the top.

As Seth got down from Geminus, he could see that they were now standing inside a large cavern that that was contained within one of the floating islands. Jagged stalactites hung from the ceiling, and there appeared to be many boulders and stalagmites scattered around the cavern floor.

"What is this place?" asked Seth.

"Storm Sanctum?" asked Warren. "Maybe the entrance?"

"We might as well explore this place and see what we can find," said Geminus.

Warren nodded, and soon the three of them proceeded to walk through the cave, side by side. The cave was fairly large inside, about the size of a high school's athletic field in size.

" I wonder what's in here?" asked Seth, once they had walked about three quarters of the way to the other side.

Just then, two figures came swooping down from a ledge at the far side of the cavern. Once they stood up, Seth could tell that the were dragons. Roughly the size of Geminus, one was a shade of light blue, the other one was green.

"Dragons?" gasped Seth.

"Wyverns, to be precise," exclaimed Warren, as the creatures, which sported wings in lieu of arms, glared at the intruder that were standing before them.

The two wyverns began snarling and hissing amongst themselves.

"Uh, Geminus," said Seth, drawing his sword. "What're they saying?"

"I don't know," muttered Geminus. "I don't speak Draconian."

The two wyverns looked at each other for a moment, then snarled at the group.

"Clover," said Warren, "little help."

The fairy angel appeared next to Warren, displaying a concerned look on her face. In response, the green wyvern growled loudly. It then opened its mouth and shot out a blast of fire towards Clover. Everybody dove away from the blast of fire before it could scorch them.

"Hey, you!" snapped Warren, wielding his sword. "That was _not_ cool!"

The blue wyvern then opened its mouth and unleashed a freezing flow of mist, which it attempted to blast the group with. It swayed its motion back and forth, attempting to hit a target, but everybody backed away from the wyverns to avoid getting hit.

"Now that _was_ cool," said Warren. "But it still wasn't cool. Uh... well played."

"Clover, do something," said Seth. "It's dangerous for one of us to get close!"

"Take this!" said Clover, as she emitted magic from her hands, which caused a transparent, green force field to erect around the two wyverns in a dome formation.

"All right!" said Seth.

"Let's go!" cried Clover. "That won't hold them for long!"

"But what if what we're looking for is deeper in the cave?" asked Warren.

"Yeah, we have to keep looking," said Seth, as he proceeded to walk around the force field. Looking inside, Seth could see the two wyverns thrashing around in an attempt to break out, like ravenous beasts in a cage.

"Seth, be careful," said Clover, who stayed by the force field with Warren and Geminus.

Just as Seth approached the far wall of the cave, he turned back just in time to see the force field suddenly vanish, freeing the wyverns. The green one proceeded to threaten the others, while the blue one came charging towards him. Part of Seth wanted to put on his gloves, but there wasn't time for him to pull them out.

"Stay back!" blared Seth, holding up his sword.

The wyvern stopped several feet in front of Seth, who threatened to slash it with his sword, as he sidestepped around it.

"Get away from me," said Seth, as he looked back at the others. He could see the other wyvern attempting to roast his friends with its fiery breath.

"You stupid thing!" exclaimed Warren. "Take this!"

Warren then whipped out the Sapphazure and shot a blast of water directly into the wyvern's mouth, dousing its fire attack. A moment later, the wyvern spat out all the water onto Warren, drenching him.

"I deserved that," muttered Warren, who was soaked.

At that moment, Seth, who had been distracted, felt overwhelmed by an intense, chill. Turning his head back, he could see that the blue wyvern was blasting its ice breath onto his body, covering most of it in frost.

"Hey, stop!" cried Seth, who could feel frostbite numbing his entire lower body. He tried to move his sword around, but his arms were in too much pain from frostbite.

"Leave him alone!" shrieked Geminus, who got received a blast of fire to her face from the green wyvern.

"Enough!" screamed Seth. He concentrated as strongly as he could, and had soon plunged the entire cavern into pure darkness.

A moment later, the cave had become completely silent. Seth started to move himself around, in an attempt too warm up his frozen limbs. Rubbing himself to build up heat, Seth could hear whimpering coming not only from the blue wyvern, but from where the others were as well.

Focusing again, Seth allowed the darkness to fade away, restoring the moderate amount of light that had originally been in the cave. He looked down in front of him, and could see that the blue wyvern was curled up, shielding itself with its wings.

Seth then glanced over at the others. The green wyvern too was curled up in a ball, as were Warren, Clover and Geminus.

"Guys!" cried Seth, as he ran over to the others. "All of you! I'm sorry!"

Sent then bent down and proceeded to rub Warren on his shoulder. "Are you guys okay?"

Warren opened his eyes and looked back up at Seth. "Seth, what'd you do?"

"I had to plunge the room into darkness to stop the two wyverns," said Seth, as he proceeded to rub both Clover and Geminus.

"I feel a bit better," said Warren. "Good. Now's our chance to slay these two miscreants while they're down."

"Wait," said Geminus, observing the green wyvern. "These wyverns. I think they're juveniles."

Seth listened to the wyvern whimpering, as it continued convulsing on the cavern floor. Its voice was not loud or booming, but he presumed it was simply due to the wyvern's small size.

"Sorry," said Seth. "It's just that you and Raxtus are pretty small as far as dragons go."

"If these wyverns are children," said Warren, "I'd hate to run into their parents."

The green wyvern appeared to be regaining control of itself, as it stood up in front of the group. Warren wielded his sword, prompting Seth to do the same with his own. At the same time, the blue wyvern had gotten up and darted over towards the green one.

The green wyvern shook its head and raised its wings before the group. When the blue one arrived by the green one's side, it made the same motions.

"I don't think they want to fight us," said Warren, lowing his sword.

"But, what are they saying?" asked Clover, as Seth lowered his sword as well. "What do they want?"

"I told you, I can't understand them."

"Then let's ask someone who can," said Seth, pulling out Bracken's coin. "Bracken, we found a cavern with two young wyverns in it."

"Really?" asked Bracken's voice through the coin. "Any significance to this?"

"We can't understand what they're saying. We were hoping Raxtus could interpret for us."

"We'll be right over," said Bracken. "Where exactly are you guys?"

"I'll set up a beacon outside the cave," said Clover. "Bracken and the others should be able to sense it from afar and home in on our location."

"Okay, we'll see you there," said Bracken, as Clover proceeded to fly off towards the cavern's entrance.

"Well, what should we do with you two?" asked Geminus, looking over at the two wyverns.

"That silver dragon I saw earlier," said Seth. "You think it was one of their parents?"

"I don't know," said Geminus. "I can't ask them anything until Raxtus gets here."

Seth stared over at the two wyverns, both of whom appeared to be overwhelmed and startled. "They sure look frightened."

"Can you really blame them?" asked Warren. "If this is in fact their home, then we not only just invaded it, but we scared them into fighting us as well."

"Why were these wyverns so aggressive?" asked Seth.

"Most dragons are," replied Geminus. "And wyverns are no exception. Especially the females. But, these two appear to be males."

"So the females are more aggressive?" asked Warren. "Hyenas and lions are the same way."

"I knew a female wyvern," said Seth. "Back when I was in being controlled by Navarog, he had a female wyvern working for him by the name Avanta.

"I hated her," said Warren. "Course, I _did_ decapitate her in the end."

A moment later, Clover came back up through the shaft. Following her was Raxtus, who was carrying Kendra and Bracken on his backside.

"You weren't kidding," said Raxtus, as he walked through the cave towards where the others were standing. "There really are two young wyverns here."

Raxtus walked over next to where Geminus was standing. The two fairies dragons were now standing face to face with the wyverns, apparently in some sort of standstill. "Kendra. Bracken. I'd like for both of you to get down from my back, please."

"Okay," said Kendra, who couldn't help but stare at the two wyverns as she got down from off of Raxtus. There was something unusual about the wyverns. Although she could not sense that they were emitting light energy, they did not appear to be emitting any sort of magical fear either.

"I'm going to attempt speaking Draconian to these two," said Raxtus. "Wish me luck."

Raxtus proceeded to speak in a dialect consisting of hisses, snarls and snorts. After he had spoken a few sentences, the wyverns responded back in a similar manner.

Raxtus then turned his head back to the group. "I just introduced us to them. You see, these wyverns are brothers. Their Draconian names are hard to say in English, but they translate into Skyfrost and Firesquall."

"Skyfrost and Firesquall?" asked Kendra. "These two are the ones who attacked you guys?"

"To be fair, they were just trying to defend themselves," said Geminus.

Raxtus continued to converse several more lines with Skyfrost and Firesquall in Draconian.

"I told them that we come in peace," said Raxtus. "I explained our situation to them, and I apologized on our behalf for this little intrusion."

"Well, as long as they're not a threat to us anymore," said Seth, "I've got a request. "Ask them if they know who that silver wyvern that I saw is."

Raxtus proceeded to ask Seth's question in Draconian. Skyfrost and Firesquall squirmed upon begin asked, then gave their response.

"They said that that wyvern is named Revlogg, and that they're highly afraid of her. So, they hide in this cavern, which is too small for her to enter."

"Ouch," said Seth. "Mind asking why?"

Raxtus relayed Seth's question to the wyverns and they gave their response. Raxtus appeared to be disturbed by their response.

"Because," said Raxtus, "Revlogg was the one who killed their parents."


	10. Alliance in the Sky

**Chaos 10 – Alliance in the Sky**

Everyone in the group had their eyes fixated on Skyfrost and Firesquall, the two wyverns who were standing before them in the middle of the cavern.

"Revlogg," said Seth. "That big dragon I saw earlier. She's the one who killed their parents?"

"I'm pretty sure that's how Raxtus interpreted it," said Kendra.

"But, why?" asked Seth.

Raxtus asked the wyverns Seth's question in Draconian. They then gave their response for which Raxtus was to relay back to Seth.

"Well," said Raxtus, "Revlogg saw their parents as a threat, so she got the drop on them and killed them. I got the impression that the situation upsets them, and they'd rather not talk about it too much."

"I understand," said Seth.

"Poor guys," said Geminus. "Abandoned at such a young age."

"That mean old Revlogg," said Warren. "Almost makes me want to want to forget about trying to find Storm Sanctum and just defeat her."

"Really?" asked Bracken.

"Yeah. I mean, look at these two. This Cloud Canyon is their home, and they have to spend the bulk of their time hiding from a bully. A bully who killed their parents."

"I agree," said Raxtus. "I was abandoned at a young age myself. Looking at Vanessa, I'm grateful that she's fortunate enough to even _have_ parents."

"Look, let's not get carried away," said Clover. "Revlogg may be a threat, but if we don't have to cross paths with her, let's not derail our plans for that. "Our first order of business is to get to Storm Sanctum."

"Wherever that is," said Kendra.

"Wait a moment," said Seth. "Maybe Skyfrost and Firesquall know. I mean, after all, this who place is their home."

"It's worth a shot," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to speak in a language of snarls and hisses to Skyfrost and Firesquall. The wyverns then gave a response to Raxtus, who then turned back to face his allies.

"Well, they've got good news and bad news for us. The good news is, they're familiar with Storm Sanctum, and they know where the entrance is."

"Really?" asked Kendra. "That's great!"

"No point in sugarcoating it for us," said Seth. "What's the bad news?"

"The entrance is on Revlogg's turf, and she's usually guarding it."

"Great," said Seth, sounding perturbed. "Just great..."

"Hey, you don't suppose that Skyfrost and Firesquall would mind directing us to Revlogg's roost, would they?" asked Kendra.

"I'll ask them," said Raxtus, interpreting Kendra's question to the wyverns. They then gave Raxtus their response.

"What'd they say?" asked Bracken.

"They said that they'll show us the way," replied Raxtus, "but that we're crazy if we think we can take on Revlogg."

"It's only one wyvern," said Warren. "She may pose a threat to these two guys, but we've taken on creatures far worse than her. I don't see what Skyfrost and Firesquall are all worked up about. Tell them that we'll deal with Revlogg, and that they needn't worry."

Raxtus spoke to the wyverns in Draconian, and soon received a response "Um, they said that Revlogg should not be taken lightly. She's very aggressive, and is capable of shooting lightning bolts from her mouth."

"I see," said Kendra.

"To be honest," said Seth. "I can see why they don't have much faith in us. We're small and we don't exactly look very threatening."

"Well, let's show them what we can do," said Warren. "Raxtus, tell the wyverns that we're ready to go."

Raxtus then spoke to the wyverns, while Kendra and Bracken proceeded to climb up onto his back. Likewise, Seth and Warren got up onto Geminus.

Kendra looked over at Skyfrost and Firesquall, and got the impression that they looked upset about something. "What are they upset about?" she asked. "If we run into Revlogg, we'll deal with her."

"I'll ask them," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to speak to the wyverns in their own tongue. They soon gave him a response. "They said that they're not really upset about anything, and that we should just get going."

Kendra took another glance over at Skyfrost and Firesquall. "_I don't think they told Raxtus the truth"_, Kendra thought to herself.

Skyfrost and Firesquall proceeded to run towards the front of the cavern, where they leapt down the shaft towards the entrance. Riders on their backs, Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to leap down the shaft, following behind the two wyverns. The dragons both clung to the walls with their nails to slow their falls, and caught up with the wyverns, who were waiting at the bottom of the shaft, standing at the entrance which overlooked the sky beneath them.

"Hold on a sec," said Kendra. "I'm starting to have my doubts about all this. What if this whole thing is some sort of trap? We barely know these wyverns! They could be bringing us to Revlogg as a sacrifice for all we know!"

"Kendra," said Geminus. "I don't know what it is, but I've just been following my heart. And while it may not be foolproof, it's telling me trust Skyfrost and Firesquall."

Firesquall made a gesture with his wing, signalling for everyone else to follow him. He and Skyfrost then leapt out of the cave and into the air, where they kept afloat in one spot by continuously flapping their wings.

Raxtus and Geminus then jumped out after Skyfrost and Firesquall. Now that they were all airborne, the wyverns proceeded to fly off, at a speed that Raxtus and Geminus were unable to keep up with.

Raxtus let out what could best be described as excessively loud hissing, prompting Skyfrost and Firesquall to slow down and wait up for him and Geminus.

"What was that about?" asked Kendra, once they had caught up with the wyverns.

"Wyverns can fly faster than most other dragons," said Raxtus. "I asked them if they could slow down for us."

"I can't really blame them," said Seth. "I don't think they get too many visitors up here. They probably aren't used to waiting for others."

Now flying at a slower speed, the wyverns proceeded to fly through the gap between two of the floating islands, while the dragons followed close behind. As they flew out of the chasm, they swerved their way around a corner and into another chasm between two of the floating islands.

They continued to fly around for several more minutes, passing through a few more chasms, before Skyfrost and Firesquall finally slowed down and came to a stop on a ledge that was protruding out of an island.

"Is this it?" asked Seth.

"I don't think so," said Kendra, feeling rather doubtful. Looking up at the imposing wall of the island they were on, Kendra could not make out anything of significance. It was just a solid wall of rock that stretched up for well over one hundred feet.

"Skyfrost and Firesquall said that this is near the entrance to Storm Sanctum," said Raxtus. "But that we should be extremely careful, because Revlogg's roost is here as well."

"So where exactly is the entrance?" asked Kendra.

Raxtus asked Kendra's question to the wyverns, who gave him their response.

"They'll show us," said Raxtus. "But they said that we need to execute extreme caution."

The wyverns proceeded to fly up towards the top of a nearby cliff, but slowed down near the top. Raxtus and Geminus followed close behind. Skyfrost then clenched onto a wall with his talons and let himself hang upside-side, much like a bat. He then shook his head and flailed his wings around.

"What's that about?" asked Seth.

"He doesn't want us to continue to the top," said Bracken. "I think."

Firesquall then rose up to the top of the cliff, just enough so that he could see the what lay before him. A moment later, Firesquall dropped down to where the others were all were. He then said something in Draconian. Although Kendra and Seth were unable to understand the language, they could tell that Firesquall sounded scared.

"Oh my," said Raxtus. "Firesquall said that Revlogg is perched atop this island, and that we're lucky she hasn't spotted us yet."

"She's here?" asked Seth. "Good. Let's deal with her already and get this over with."

Kendra winced. "As long as Revlogg doesn't know we're here, we can use this opportunity to get the drop on her."

"We should all go on ahead," said Warren. "Just enough so that we can properly see what we're up against."

Raxtus, Geminus, Skyfrost and Firesquall all rose up towards the top of the enormous island. Perched on a hill in the center of the grassy island was a large, silver wyvern. The same one that Seth had spotted earlier. Revlogg was indeed quite large, and she easily rivalled Navarog in terms of size. Fortunately for them, the beast was curled in such a position so that her head was facing in the opposite direction.

"Can she tell that we're here?" asked Kendra.

"She will, if we cause enough commotion," said Raxtus. "So let's draw do anything rash that would draw her attention."

"So, the entrance to Storm Sanctum," said Seth, "is underneath where Revlogg currently is?"

Raxtus translated Seth's question for the wyverns, who both gave their response by nodding their heads.

"Great," muttered Seth. "Have we got anything on us that'll allow us to take out a wyvern that size?"

"Wait a sec," said Warren. "First of all, to answer your question Seth, not easily. And second, even if we _can _take out Revlogg, I wouldn't want to do it where she is right now. If she's on top of the entrance and we kill her, we'll have a massive carcass blocking our way through."

"I've got an idea," said Kendra. "Since there's enough of us, what if somebody were to act as bait and lure Revlogg away from her spot?

"Not a bad suggestion," said Bracken. "Maybe Skyfrost and Firesquall would be willing to take on that duty. They're faster than any of us and must know their way around here pretty well."

"Yeah," said Bracken. "And while Revlogg is off chasing them, it'll buy us enough time to enter Storm Sanctum."

"Sounds good," said Raxtus. "I'll ask them what they think."

Raxtus spoke to Skyfrost and Firesquall for a moment. They then gave him their response, and appeared to have worried looks on their faces. Raxtus said something back to them, prompting the wyverns to put their heads down.

"What's the matter?" asked Seth.

"You see," said Raxtus. "Skyfrost and Firesquall said that not only could this be incredibly dangerous, but even if we _were_ to succeed, they'd not only be separated from us, but they'd have to deal with Revlogg as well."

"It just feels wrong," said Geminus. "Making these young wyverns do our dirty work like that. Putting them in such danger."

"I understand," said Warren. "But a wyvern like that isn't easy to kill. Especially if one such as her has electrical powers. She could fry you before you even get near her."

"So, maybe the wyverns _should_ lure Revlogg away," said Seth. "I just hope she's stupid enough to fall for this trick."

Raxtus spoke to the wyverns for a good moment, then turned to face his fellow allies. "Okay. I've gotten these two to agree to our little plan. They'll fly ahead and draw Revlogg's attention. While she's off chasing them, we enter Storm Sanctum, the entrance of which is too small for her to follow us through."

"Okay," said Clover. "Good luck, you two."

Skyfrost and Firesquall looked over at the knights and nodded, then turned around so that they were facing the hill where Revlogg was sitting. The two wyverns then flew over towards Revlogg and proceeded to assault her by blasting streams of fire and ice at her body.

Upon absorbing the attacks that the two wyvern brothers were assaulting on her, Revlogg let out a booming roar, one so loud that Kendra and Seth could both feel the island shaking beneath them. Now that they had her attention, Revlogg rose up off of the ground and unfurled her wings, revealing an impressive wingspan. As the wyverns flew off, Revlogg unleashed a blast of lightning in their direction, but it missed them.

"Whoa," said Kendra, watching as Revlogg jumped into the air and proceeded to give chase after Skyfrost and Firesquall. "I hope this wasn't a bad idea."

"Come on," said Warren. "She's gone! Let's check out where she was sitting."

Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to fly across the island and descended down to the spot where Revlogg had just been. Unlike the rest of the island, there was no grass to be found in this part, no doubt due to the wyvern's constant roosting.

"I see it!" said Bracken, pointing to a nearby area in the dirt. "That! It has to be the entrance to Storm Sanctum!"

Everybody looked down at the Bracken had been pointing. Surely enough, even though it was partially covered with dirt, there was a large, rounded outline set within the ground.

"This is entrance?" exclaimed Clover, as she flew over to the spot that Bracken had discovered.

"Yeah," replied Bracken. "The Floodmaze had an entrance similar to this one. "It's just underneath all this dirt."

"It's true," said Seth. "If this stupid dirt wasn't here, you could see for yourself."

"Hold on," said Clover. She proceeded to fire a small blast of green magic at her feet, which conjured up a very small whirlwind that barely went above her ankles. The whirlwind proceeded to blow away the dirt that was surrounding Clover, revealing the circular barrier that she was standing on.

"That star," said Kendra, admiring the rainbow-hued star which Clover was standing on. "I remember the Floodmaze entrance had one just like it!"

"So, how do we open this thing?" asked Clover, looking down at the barrier.

Suddenly, a loud roar drew everyone's attention away from the barrier, and over to the side, where Revlogg could be seen flying towards the center of the island. Revlogg looked furious, and she proceeded to open her mouth, blasting out a bolt of lightning towards the group, nearly hitting them.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Raxtus, as he leapt into the air with Kendra and Bracken still on his back, just in time for smack him with one her massive wings. The impact slammed Raxtus back down towards the ground, where he crashed, knocking off both Kendra and Raxtus. The sudden fall was painful, but Kendra did not experience any injuries.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Raxtus, rubbing his backside. "I think I just broke my wing, but it'll heal."

"Oh, Raxtus," said Kendra. "But what about them?" She watched as Revlogg continued to pursue Geminus towards the far side of the island.

"Geminus!" cried Seth, as Revlogg proceeded to open her mouth. "Revlogg's going to blast us with another lightning bolt!"

"Oh no she won't!" said Geminus, as she magically conjured up a pink aura around herself, Seth and Warren. Seth watch as a lightning bolt shot out of Revlogg's mouth and hit them, but experienced no pain.

"Nice!" said Warren. "Your shield worked great!"

Now Geminus was beyond the island, and flying out in the open sky. Revlogg had now closed in on Geminus and was flying directly overhead.

"Uh, Geminus," said Seth, "what's Revlogg doing?"

Revlogg then suddenly lowered her talons down at Geminus and quickly wrapped one of them around the fairy dragon's entire body. Fortunately, Seth and Warren had not been crushed, for they had ended up in the narrow gap between two of the massive wyvern's toes.

"Let me go!" shrieked Geminus, even though Revlogg presumably couldn't understand her tongue.

Just before Seth or Warren could proceed to draw their swords, Revlogg shook Geminus around with her talon. The force of Revlogg's shaking was so intense, that Seth and Warren both found themselves being flung off of Geminus' back and started falling down to the open sky below.

"HEEELPP!" screamed Seth, as he and Warren plummeted down towards the layer of clouds that was a fair distance beneath them. Looking up, Seth could see that Geminus was still being held in Revlogg's claw.

"CLOVER!" cried Warren, "GEMINUS! ANYONE!"

Suddenly, Skyfrost and Firesquall swooped down from the island above, and dove down towards Seth and Warren. Skyfrost soared down at Seth and gracefully caught him within his claws, with Firesquall did the same with Warren. The wyverns had broken their falls, and proceeded to fly back towards Revlogg's island, where they descended down onto a protruding ledge along the side.

"Holy..." gasped Seth, once Skyfrost released him from his grasp. He could feel his heart pounding within his chest like a jackhammer.

"It's times like these I miss having the power to fly," said Warren. "And, I realize that you can't understand us," he continued, while patting Firesquall on his wing, "but thank you."

"Yeah," said Seth. "We owe you our lives."

The two wyverns then gave gestures with their wings, indicating that they wanted Seth and Warren to climb onto their backs.

"They want us to get on them?" asked Seth

"It's not like we have much choice up here," said Warren, as he proceeded to climb up onto Firesquall's back.

Seth nodded, and then got himself up onto Skyfrost's backside. One he was in position, Skyfrost and Firesquall both spread out their wings and flew back up towards the top of the island and landed on the edge, where they stood side by side. From what they could see, Revlogg was standing in her spot on the hill in the center, holding Geminus captive under one of her talons. The rest of their friends were encased within a force field, which was shielding them from Revlogg's lightning blasts.

"Oh boy," said Warren. "This looks like trouble."

"Are the others even okay?" asked Seth.

"I can't really tell."

"I'm pretty fed up with Revlogg right now. What do you say we deal with that monster once and for all?"

"Let's do it," said Warren, as he held out his hand from atop Firesquall. In response, Seth extended his hand and gave Warren a high-five.

Skyfrost and Firesquall then extended their wings and gave each other "three" using the digits that were on their tips. Seth didn't know if the wyverns even understood what it meant, but one thing was for sure, they were ready to confront Revlogg.


	11. Revlogg

**Chapter 11: Revlogg**

Seated on the back of Skyfrost, Seth held on to the the wyvern as he spread out his wings and jumped into the air. Firesquall, did the same with Warren on his back, and the two wyverns proceeded to soar across the island towards the center, where Revlogg was antagonizing the rest of their allies.

Revlogg looked over at the incoming wyverns and their riders, and attempted to shoot them by blasting lightning bolts from out of her mouth. However, Skyfrost impressed Seth with his ability to out-maneuver each and every strike.

Skyfrost then remained in one spot, while Firesquall opted to fly over to Revlogg's other side. Now that she was distracted by Firesquall, Skyfrost used this opportunity to unleash a blast of ice at Revlogg's wing.

Revlogg let out a booming shrill, as she turned back towards Skyfrost, prompting him to cease his attack. Now that her back was turned away, Firesquall retaliated by blasting the wyvern with a stream of fire, which only irritated her further.

Now at her boiling point, Revlogg began to shake her head back and forth and spat out more bolts of lightning. From what Seth could guess, Revlogg was just aiming her shots blindly in hopes of hitting somebody.

"Bracken," said Kendra from within the force field, "Skyfrost and Firesquall's attacks don't seem to be doing all that much to Revlogg."

"She's a lot larger and a lot stronger than either of them," said Raxtus. "Fortunately, those two are a lot more agile than she its."

"But if neither side can triumph over the other, then we've reached an impasse," said Kendra. "What can we do?"

"I'd suggest assaulting Revlogg with light energy," said Clover. "But if she' not a creature of darkness, it won't do much of anything."

"And to her, that means Vasilis is no different than any other sword," said Bracken.

"I need to do something," said Kendra. "Seth and Warren are doing what they can to help, but it's not enough. I can't just hide here in this bubble!"

"Well, Bracken's managed to heal my wing," said Raxtus. "So I can take you out for a spin if you're up to it."

"But what can we do?" asked Kendra. "Skyfrost and Firesquall have ice and fire attacks. What do we have?"

"A diversion," said Bracken. "Revlogg's too distracted with them at the moment. If a third group goes out there, it's just going to be more trouble she needs to deal with."

"But Kendra has a point," said Clover. "We don't exactly have anything that can do a whole lot to a creature like Revlogg."

"If we don't defeat Revlogg, what are we supposed to do?" asked Kendra. "As long as she's here guarding the place, we'll never get the opportunity to enter Storm Sanctum. Even if we manage to round the others up and escape using the Translocator, we'll have come all this way for nothing."

"Sounds like you're good to go," said Raxtus. "And as long as Geminus is in danger, there's no way that I'm going to abandon her ever. Kendra, get on my back."

"Right," said Kendra, as she got up onto Raxtus' backside.

"Okay, Bracken," said Raxtus. "Open the force field."

Bracken nodded and the force field that was surrounding them suddenly vanished. With Kendra holding onto his back, Raxtus spread his wings out and took off into the air.

Revlogg appeared to be too distracted by Skyfrost and Firesquall to even notice Raxtus, and made no effort to attack him as he flew towards her.

"Raxtus," said Kendra, "get me up onto Revlogg's head."

"Okay," said the fairy dragon. "But be careful! Really careful."

"You don't have to tell me," said Kendra, as Raxtus dove out of the way of an incoming lightning bolt that Revlogg had been intending to zap Firesquall and Warren with.

"What are Kendra and Raxtus _doing_?" asked Seth, watching the action from atop Skyfrost. He wasn't expecting an answer, as the only one who could hear him this position was Skyfrost, who was completely incapable of understanding his speech.

Seeing as how Kendra and Raxtus were approaching Revlogg's head, the wyvern brothers lowered the range of their attacks towards the bottom portion of Revlogg's body.

Raxtus veered around towards the back of Revlogg's distracted head, while Kendra drew Vasilis from its sheath. Kendra then jumped down from off of Raxtus and onto the massive wyvern's shoulder.

By the time Kendra found her footing, Revlogg attempted to reach back with her right wing in an attempt to swat at Kendra.

"Stop her!" cried Seth.

Despite the language barrier, Skyfrost could see that Kendra was in danger, and shot a blast of ice at Revlogg, prompting her to block it with her wing, which would've otherwise have struck Kendra.

Kendra struggled to keep her balance, as Revlogg attempted to grab her, this time using her left wing. However, a blast of fire, courtesy of Firesquall, scorched Revlogg from the other direction, thus prompting her to shield her with her free wing.

Revlogg attempted to shake Kendra off by shaking her body around, but Kendra didn't give in, and managed to maintain her balance. She then thrust Vasilis directly into the wyvern's neck, right in a groove between her scales. Revlogg screamed in pain, as Kendra proceeded to slash the sword across the wyvern's neck, which was as thick as a tree trunk. Blood seeped out of the gash that Kendra had caused, as she continued to circle around Revlogg's neck, widening the cut. The wyvern no doubt had very tough skin, but Vasilis was one sharp sword, even without factoring in its power over light and darkness.

Now drenched in the wyvern's blood, Kendra proceeded to jab Vasilis further into Revlogg's neck, coming to a stop once she hit the monster's vertebrae. It was far too solid for Kendra to slash through. But, had she been using a lesser sword than Vasilis, even coming this far wouldn't been impossible.

With three sources of pain now overwhelming Revlogg, she began to shake her entire body around, attempting to either deflect any of the oncoming attacks, or to knock Kendra off of her shoulder. Kendra hugged Revlogg by her neck, hoping to herself that the momentum wouldn't be enough to knock her off.

Kendra thought to herself. As long as she couldn't cut through Revlogg's neck bone, the wyvern would probably still remain alive. She then watched as the incisions she made into Revlogg's neck suddenly started to close up, no doubt due to a healing factor that the wyvern possessed. If she was going to break through Revlogg's neck, Kendra needed more strength.

At that moment, an idea hit Kendra like a ton of bricks. A strength potion! Although she didn't have a ton of tools at her disposal, she did have a strength potion in her pouch, courtesy of Tanu.

Still holding onto Revlogg with one hand, Kendra used her other hand to dig into her pouch. After fumbling around with the contents, she felt a potion bottle, grabbed it and pulled it out. Kendra quickly identified the contents of the bottle as a strength potion due to the navy blue formula that was swishing around in it.

Kendra quickly uncorked the bottle and downed the strength potion that was inside. The taste reminded her of a cross between cough syrup and cinnamon. Hardly anything pleasant, but Kendra was under too much stress to really complain.

A moment later, Kendra could feel a ton of energy surging through her veins. That was it. The strength potion had taken effect! This was her moment. It was either now or never. Grasping the hilt of Vasilis with both hands, Kendra swung the sword back and thrust it through Revlogg's neck as deeply as it would go.

As Vasilis passed through the wyvern's neck, Kendra experienced a slight bump, and continued to slice onwards until the sword came out on the other side. Revlogg let out one final scream, as her entire head suddenly swung down from atop her neck.

Revlogg then collapsed onto the ground, creating a tremendous thud upon impact. The fall caused Kendra to fall off herself and land underneath one of the wyvern's wings, which covered her like a large, leather tent.

Her body now covered in wyvern blood, Kendra wiped as much of it as she could from off her her face, although she could feel that it was leaving reddish stains all over her skin. One she got her bearings, Kendra walked out from under Revlogg's wing, and over towards her head.

Looking over at Revlogg's neck, which blood was still spilling out of. Kendra could see that it was no longer fully connected to the rest of her body, as most of it, including the entire neck bone, had apparently been cut off. Only a partially area of the wyvern's neck was still intact, which Kendra had missed cutting through. From what Kendra could tell, the wyvern was motionless, and undoubtedly dead.

"Kendra!" exclaimed Seth, as Skyfrost flew down and landed by Revlogg's head. "I don't believe it! You just single-highhandedly decapitated a wyvern!"

Before Kendra could respond, everyone else all flew over towards the group and landed next to where she, Seth and Skyfrost now were.

"Geminus!" exclaimed Kendra. "You're okay!"

"She was rough on me, yes," said Geminus. "But it's nothing. No injuries or anything."

"Kendra," said Warren. "You're a bloody mess! But seriously, how did you ever kill a wyvern like that?"

"Well, I remember that slayed Avanta back at Pileus Palace by decapitating her. I figured that as long as Revlogg was distracted, why couldn't I do the same?"

"Kendra! Avanta was like half the size of Revlogg! And nowhere near as dangerous."

"Well, I did use up my strength potion."

"What do you think _I_ had to use in order to kill Avanta?" asked Warren.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" asked Seth. "Why complain?"

"I'm not complaining," said Warren. "It's just that I've killed a full grown wyvern, or any dragon for that matter. And today Kendra just upstaged me by slaying Revlogg! But, I did use Avanta's carcass as a hang glider to soar down from the sky, so there's that."

"Kendra _did_ receive assistance," said Seth.

"Still, she should get a trophy or something for this!"

"Right now I'll settle for a shower," said Kendra. "All this blood is grossing me out."

"Allow me," said Bracken. He proceeded to wave his hands around, and directed a swirl of white sparkles at Kendra. The sparkles spiralled around Kendra's entire body and produced a blinding flash of light. Once the light had faded, Kendra was completely dry. Her body and clothes were now completely devoid of any excess wyvern blood.

Kendra breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Bracken." She then proceeded to kiss Bracken and hugged him.

Skyfrost and Firesquall approached Kendra, opened their wings, and said something in Draconian.

"Uh, what do they want?" asked Kendra, who thought that the wyverns might be preparing to attack her now that she had let go of Bracken.

"Just relax," said Raxtus. "They won't hurt you."

Skyfrost and Firesquall each wrapped one of the wings around Kendra, embracing her in a group hug.

"They're thanking you," said Raxtus. "They're grateful that you were able to slay the greatest threat of their lives with such ease."

"Tell them they're welcome," said Kendra, as the wyvern brothers removed their wings from her body. "But, I still can't take all the credit."

"The wyverns really are thankful," said Raxtus. "To all of us. Now that Revlogg had been defeated, they can finally live here in peace."

Seth crossed his arms. "I sure wish defeating_ our _nemesis could only be this easy. "It's like he's incapable of dying."

"Well, that's the whole reason why we're here," said Bracken. "Although whether the relic we're looking for, or any relic at all, is actually in Storm Sanctum at all, remains to be seen."

"Speaking of which," said Seth, "how are we supposed to get into Storm Sanctum now? In case nobody's noticed, there's a big, dead wyvern that's blocking the entrance."

Kendra looked up at Revlogg's fallen body, which was current laying down on the ground before them, sprawled out for several dozen feet in a pool of blood.

"Cleanup on isle five!" said Warren.

"Maybe we could push her aside if we all drank strength potions?" asked Kendra.

"We don't have very many of those," said Bracken. "And if we were to drink those potions, and they still aren't enough, then they'd have been wasted."

"Yeah," said Seth. "I mean look at Revlogg. She's HUGE!"

"I know this sounds gross," said Raxtus. "but, what if we were to just keep on hacking and slashing at Revlogg, until there's nothing left of her but tiny pieces that we can just toss away?"

"Eww," said Kendra.

"Not only is that disgusting," said Clover, shaking her head, but it'd take way too long."

"Can't you fairies just use your magic on Revlogg and teleport her away or something?" asked Seth.

"No way," said Bracken. "She's way too big."

"Too big?" asked Kendra. "We were able to warp Mariana across the globe using the Translocator, and she's almost Revlogg's size, so why..."

"Why not just use the Translocator to remove Revlogg?" asked Seth, interrupting his sister.

"We could try it," said Warren. "Thing is, if Revlogg isn't alive, does she even count as a traveller?"

"Dead or alive," said Bracken, "as long as it's capable of moving her elsewhere, I'm not going to be one to complain about it."

"So, where should we even send Revlogg?" asked Seth.

"Somewhere where her presence won't annoy anyone else would be best," said Clover. "Why not just move her to one of the other islands?"

"Cloud Canyon is still Skyfrost and Firesquall's home," said Raxtus. "Isn't there somewhere better?"

"It's too bad the Translocator can't travel into the Demon Domain," said Seth. "That's be a great place to dump her."

"It'd be kind of a shame to just abandon this fine specimen of a wyvern," said Warren. "Someone like Tanu could use her remains for ingredients."

"So, then send her to Tanu," said Seth.

"She'd never fit in his tiny one bedroom apartment!" laughed Warren.

"Why not just send Revlogg back home to Fablehaven?" asked Clover. "At least for the time being?"

"That's actually a good idea," said Kendra. "There's plenty of room at home, and as long as Revlogg's dead, it's not like she'll be capable of causing any trouble."

"I might as well try it," said Warren. "Let me have the Translocator back, Kendra."

"Sure," said Kendra, passing the artifact over to Warren, who accepted it from her.

"I hope this works," said Warren, as he wound up the Translocator and pressed it against Revlogg's lower jaw. "Here goes!"

Everybody watched as the Translocator worked its magic and transported not only Warren, but the enormous Revlogg as well, out of sight, leaving nothing but a large puddle of wyvern blood in the spot where she had been lying.

"It worked!" exclaimed Seth.

"But there's so much extra blood covering the entrance!" said Kendra.

"Hey, better some stupid blood than an entire creature."

"The blood really isn't much of a problem," said Clover, but it's grossing me out and would no doubt soil us once we open up the entrance."

"I couldn't agree more," said Bracken. "Shall we?"

Clover nodded, then held out her hands and released a stream of glowing green energy down at the blood that was surrounding the center of the island. Likewise, Bracken did the same with a white-colored energy stream.

Working their magic, both of the light streams quickly spread throughout the spilled blood, causing the entire mess to glow brilliantly, only for it all to completely vanish before everybody's eyes.

"Not too shabby," said Seth. "Wish I had that sort of power to clean my room for whenever my Mom orders me to clean it."

"Well, I guess this is it," said Kendra. "With the area clean, all that's left for us now is to wait for Warren to get back, so that we can all enter Storm Sanctum."

"What's taking him so long? You think he'd just send Revlogg home to Fablehaven, then travel back here."

"Well, Warren can't just dump Revlogg off at home without any explanation and then zip back here," said Clover. "I don't think your family would be too thrilled if he did that."

"I hope he's okay," said Kendra. "What if something went wrong due to transporting a large, dead wyvern with him?"

"You mean, like if doing that somehow broke the Translocator?" asked Seth. "Maybe it sent Warren somewhere awful and now he can't get back?"

"Seth, don't joke about that," said Kendra, watching her brother snicker behind his hand.

A moment later, Warren reappeared before the group, grasping onto the Translocator within his hands.

"Whoa boy," said Warren. "I see you guys cleaned up around here. All that blood is gone."

"It was nothing," said Clover. "What happened with Revlogg?"

"Well, I transported her to a far corner of Fablehaven. A vacant area where none of the creatures are allowed to roam, so she won't be disturbed. It's only temporary, of course. I explained the situation to everyone at home. Dale and Stan seem to have everything under control. They're going to contact Tanu and see to it that Revlogg's body parts are put to good use."

"Glad to hear actually good for something," said Raxtus.

"Now that we're all here, and there's nothing blocking our way," said Kendra. "It's time for us to head inside Storm Sanctum."

Seth looked down at the entrance to the vault. This was it. There was no turning back now. They were now ready to enter the next vault.


	12. Storm Sanctum

**Chapter 12: Storm Sanctum**

Seth and Kendra looked down at the circular barrier that served as the entrance to Storm Sanctum. A rainbow-hued star was embedded in the center of the barrier, and if it were to be removed from its current position, it would provide an opening with more than enough width for either Raxtus or Geminus to slip through.

"So how do you open this thing again?" asked Seth, thinking back to when they had been at the entrance to the Floodmaze.

"It's easy," said Bracken. "So long as you're capable of using fairy magic. Watch this."

Bracken snapped his fingers, and a small orb of white light appeared in his palm The orb then bounced down from his hand and landed on the star that was situated on the barrier. The orb engulfed the entire barrier in its brilliant white glow, and suddenly, it vanished, revealing a staircase that went downwards, underneath the surface of the island.

"Awesome," said Seth. "But, couldn't we have just dug our way through? Like with a jackhammer or something?"

"I doubt it," replied Bracken. "A vault like Storm Sanctum is probably impenetrable to external attacks. This entrance here is likely the only way in or out, and it was designed to only be opened by fairy magic."

"Well, it's out of way now," said Seth. "So I can't really complain."

Seth walked directly up to the top of the stairs, and gazed down into the revealed stairwell. The stairs, which were had been constructed out of stones, as well as the stairwell itself, curved around after going down for several feet. From what Seth could interpret, it was a spiralling stairway.

Kendra then walked over to where Seth was standing and stopped next to him, as did Bracken, Warren, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus. Skyfrost and Firesquall stood still for a moment, then approached the rest of the group as well.

"What's going on?" asked Kendra. "Why are they still following us?"

"I'm not sure," said Clover. "They showed us the way to Storm Sanctum. You killed their archenemy. I'd say we're about even."

"They want something," said Geminus. "What is it, Raxtus?"

"I'll ask them," said Raxtus, as he spoke to Skyfrost and Firesquall in Draconian. The fairy dragon and the two wyverns had a small conversation, which was impossible for anybody else's ears to interpret.

Raxtus," said Geminus. "What is it?"

"They said they want to be with us. They have no more family or friends."

"Really?" asked Kendra. "That's very nice of them, but they shouldn't feel obligated."

"It's what they want," said Raxtus.

"You mean, they want us?" asked Bracken.

"If they've got no one else, these wyverns might actually _need_ us," said Seth.

"After all that trouble Revlogg caused for us, I think _we_ might be the ones need_ them_!" said Warren. "If not for them, Seth and I would've been goners, and Kendra never would've gotten the opportunity to slay Revlogg."

"They have proven themselves to be capable and resourceful," said Bracken. "In this case, if nobody else objects to it, I have no reason to reject their accompaniment."

"Fine with me," said Warren. "Raxtus, tell Skyfrost and Firesquall that they're welcome to come along. But, make sure that they're aware of the risk that may lurk inside."

"Can do," said Raxtus, as he relayed Warren's message to the wyverns. Once he was finished, the wyverns both nodded in agreement.

"WA-HOO!" shouted Seth. "Now we've got two more awesome allies to come along with us on this adventure. Sweet!"

"If everybody's ready," said Bracken, "I suppose that we should now enter the vault."

The group proceeded to march down the stairs that stood before them. Although the stairwell was not too large, it provided a sufficient enough amount of space for the dragons and wyverns to walk through.

Once the staircase was several yards underneath the surface of the ground, it began spiralling to one side. Warren made sure to test each and every stair by touching it with the tip of his sword, just to make sure that none of them were booby-trapped.

After going down what felt like several flights of the spiralling stairwell, the group had arrived at the bottom. They were now standing in a small chamber with nothing of any discernible interest, save for the double iron doors that could be seen along the far wall.

"I wonder what's inside?" asked Seth, staring at the doors, each of which sported a large, circular, steel handle. The doors also appeared to be sealed shut by a barricade.

"Good or bad, looks like we don't have a choice," said Clover.

"If these doors are to be kept shut," said Kendra, "then why is there a barricade on _this _side? It doesn't look like it'd be hard to remove."

"The barrier outside was meant to keep unwanted visitors out," said Bracken. "This barricade most likely is here to keep whatever's on the other side of these doors... in."

"Whatever it is," said Geminus, "let's just hope it's something we're able to deal with."

"I'll get the door," said Raxtus, as he stuck his claw forward and grabbed onto the barricade with his fingers. The then lifted it up from the rungs on each door that were holding it in place and set it down next to the wall.

Next, Raxtus placed a claw on each of the door handles and proceeded to pull the doors open. Gazing through the doors, there appeared to be a vast, open room on the other side. The group passed through the doorway and entered the next room.

The size of the room, which had been hollowed out from the island that contained it, could only be described as enormous. Roughly the shape of an upright egg, it appeared to be somewhere between two and three-hundred feet from the floor to the ceiling.

The entrance to the room was a platform close to the top, which the group was standing on. While the platform was large enough to support everybody, there did not appear to be a safe way down.

Kendra gazed down towards the bottom of the room, trying to make out just what was waiting for them at the bottom. From what she could tell, there at least did not appear to be a giant monster of any sort that was waiting for them.

"How do we get down from here?" asked Kendra. "This wall is way too steep for somebody to scale."

"Looks like we'll have to fly down," said Geminus. "Mind you, if anybody even could get this far, they'd no doubt need the ability to fly."

Kendra then climbed up onto Raxtus' back. "Okay. Let's do this."

Seth then walked up to Geminus, only to hear a wailing sound. He turned around and saw that the sound was coming from Skyfrost.

"Hey, what's the matter?" asked Seth.

"Skyfrost says that he wants you to ride him," said Raxtus.

"Really?" asked Seth. "Okay."

Seth then approached Skyfrost and climbed up onto the wyvern's backside. Likewise, Warren found his way onto Firesquall's back, along with Clover.

"This isn't so bad," said Seth. "At least now I get a dragon to myself!"

"I'll go with you, Geminus," said Bracken, as he sat down on the back of the pink dragon.

The dragons and wyverns jumped off the ledge and soared down towards the bottom of the room. As they lowered, they circled around the room several times, before they eventually reached the bottom.

"What's that?" asked Kendra, as she got down from off of Raxtus. In the center of the room stood a large, stone statue, which appeared to be the only object of any significance within the entire room.

"It looks like an ogre," said Warren, prompting Kendra and Seth to study the somewhat grotesque statue that stood before them.

"What's he holding?" asked Seth, who could see that the statue was wearing what appeared to be armor, and was holding what appeared to be a mallet in its hand. As it was part of the statue, it was also made of stone and was irremovable.

"Beats me," said Bracken.

"Is this it?" asked Seth. "What kind of vault is this? It's just a big, empty room with nothing but a stupid statue!"

Seth proceeded to place his hand on the statue's mallet. However, the moment he made contact with it, the statue suddenly sprung to life, turning from stone to a living, organic ogre. Nearly scared to death, Seth jumped back as the ogre let out a booming roar that echoed through the vast room. The ogre then held up the mallet it had been holding, and lightning bolts shot out of the mallet's head in numerous directions.

"Oh my god!" gasped Kendra.

The ogre swung its hammer around in circles, then lowered it and attempted to shoot the group with a lightning bolt.

"Run!" exclaimed Bracken, as everybody veered away from the incoming electrical blast. Fortunately, it missed them, but it left a smoldering black mark where it had impacted the floor.

As the group scattered around the of the room, the ogre attempted to shoot them by launching more lightning bolts from its hammer at whomever it could, although none of them had successfully made contact.

"Why does it keep missing?" gasped Seth, as he ran around, narrowly dodging one of the incoming bolts.

"Must be stiff," said Warren. "But if we don't do something soon, that ogre will come to his senses."

The next thing Seth knew, one of the bolts had successfully made contact with Firesquall, electrocuting him before his eyes.

"No!" exclaimed Warren, as he approached the green wyvern. "Are you okay?"

Skyfrost then scowled at the ogre, and unleashed a blast of icy mist from his mouth in the ogre's direction. The moment it made contact, the electricity from the ogre's hammer surged through the flowing ice and electrocuted Skyfrost.

"Skyfrost!" gasped Seth.

"Ice is just frozen water," said Bracken. "Doing what Skyfrost did was asking for trouble!"

"Let's do this our way," said Clover, as she held out her hands and released a glowing beam of magical green energy at the ogre. Likewise, Bracken did the same with a beam of white magic.

"It's not working!" cried Kendra, as the two fairies stopped their assault.

"Of course it's not working," said Geminus. "That ogre isn't a creature of darkness."

"It was worth a shot," said Clover, as ogre aimed his hammer at Bracken and Clover, nearly blasting the two with another lightning bolt.

"I've got an idea," said Seth. "Everybody get onto a dragon and into the air!"

Seth then scurried up onto Skyfrost's backside, as everyone else mounted onto one of the other dragons.

"Uh, go up, Skyfrost!" said Seth. The wyvern did not respond. Instead, it remained on the floor, dancing around in an attempt to avoid the ogre's electrical attack.

Seth then held his hand in front of the wyvern's face and pointed upwards. Fortunately, Skyfrost understood what he meant. The wyvern proceeded to flap his wings, and suddenly shot up from the floor at a high speed, while Seth clung on to Skyfrost's backside.

The others all followed Skyfrost's lead, until the had reached the topmost section of the room.

"Oh boy," said Bracken, "the doors are closed."

Kendra and Seth looked over to the two doors and saw that they were now shut, despite the fact that the had initially been left open upon flying down from the entrance to the room.

"So what?" asked Warren. "We've got the Translocator, don't we? And I don't think that ogre can get out of this place anyway."

"What's that?" asked Clover, looking downwards.

Kendra and Seth looked down and saw something flying up towards them from the bottom of the room.

"It's the hammer!" exclaimed Bracken, as the aforementioned tool flew up towards them, swirling around as electricity surged through it. The moment it reached the top of the room the entire hammer froze in midair and started to pulsating in a large, electrical glow.

"Look out!" gasped Geminus, as she closed her eyes and conjured up a pink force field in front of the group.

At that very moment, a huge blast of lightning bolts shot out of the hammer in every direction. Had it not been for Geminus, everybody in the group would've been electrocuted by the blast.

Once the electricity died down, the hammer began to spin pick up momentum and started to spin around, as it soared down towards the ground at high speed.

"How'd it do that?" asked Kendra.

"It's going straight back to the ogre," said Bracken. "It threw that hammer like it was a boomerang!"

"A boomerang hammer?" asked Seth. "Fine. I'm calling this ogre Hammerang!"

"So how do we deal with this _Hammerang_?" asked Warren.

"I thought we could avoid it from up high," said Seth.

Kendra could barely make out what was going on from this far away, but she watched as Hammerang seemingly caught his hammer and proceeded to fling it back up into the air.

"He's tossing the hammer again for another shot!"

"Now's our chance," said Raxtus. "As long as that hammer's floating around up here, he can't attack us with it!"

As the hammer rose up through the center of the room, the dragons and their riders soared down along the wall, assuming that it would miss them by a mile. However, once they passed the hammer, it suddenly stopped rising and veered downwards, chasing after Kendra and Raxtus.

"Help!" shrieked Kendra, as Raxtus circled around the room, unable to shake the hammer away from chasing him.

"The hammer's got too much momentum!" exclaimed Seth. "Skyfrost can't freeze it like this!"

With the hammer still pursuing Raxtus, Warren, Clover and Firesquall soared back down towards Hammerang. Once they were within range, Firesquall unleashed a blast of fire at Hammerang. Not only the did fire not phase the ogre, but her retaliated by shooting electricity from his hand at the wyvern, which electrocuted both Firesquall and Warren.

Without being instructed, Skyfrost soared down towards his fallen brother and landed next to him. Seth could see that Clover was emanating magic from her body in an effort to heal herself, Warren and Firesquall.

Before Hammerang could shoot more electricity at anybody,Geminus soared down next to the group with Raxtus on her back, and erected another force field to protect the group.

Meanwhile, Raxtus was still being chased around the upper portion of the room by the hammer.

"It doesn't stop!" exclaimed Raxtus. "And I don't have the power to turn you invisible too, Kendra. If only you had those gloves and not your brother."

"Hold on," said Kendra. "I've got an idea."

Kendra quickly pulled the Translocator out of her pouch and twisted it. She then placed it against Raxtus' backside and focused. Suddenly, the two of the them were outside, flying in the air directly over Fablehaven.

"Not bad!" said Raxtus. "I'd like to see that hammer get us all the way over here!"

"We still have to go back," said Kendra. "Get ready to slow down." She twisted the Translocator again and pressed it onto Raxtus' back, transporting the two of them back into Hammerang's chamber, now close to the floor. Raxtus had now decreased his speed and landed near his allies, passing behind Geminus' force field.

"Hammer or no hammer," said Warren, "Hammerang's still a force to be reckoned with.

Seth gazed up and watched as the hammer that had been chasing Raxtus around was now flying back down and handle first into Hammerang's hand.

Firesquall then grumbled something, while Warren proceeded to comfort him.

"Firesquall says he's too weak to unleash his fire attack on Hammerang," said Raxtus. "And this force field won't hold forever!"

"Let's just slash him with out swords already," said Seth.

"Too dangerous," said Bracken. "Besides, look at all that armor!"

"I'd soak him with the Sapphazure," said Warren. "Because then the water might cause him to overcharge and electrocute himself. "But it's too dangerous! He could shock me just like he did with Skyfrost earlier."

"I've got an idea," said Seth. Raxtus, fly back up, without Kendra."

"But, that hammer can still sense me," said Raxtus. "Even if I'm invisible. Unless Hammerang has direct control over it somehow."

"Leave Hammerang to me," said Seth. "Warren, let me borrow the Sapphazure."

"Okay," said Warren. "But be careful! If you soak yourself and get zapped, it could kill you!"

Seth then accepted the Sapphazure from Warren, while Raxtus soared up into the air, earning the attention of Hammerang, who proceeded to toss his hammer up after Raxtus again.

With Hammerang and his own hammer now distracted by Raxtus, Seth slipped on both of his gloves, rendering himself and the Sapphazure completely invisible. He quickly decked out from behind the force field and stood before Hammerang, who failed to notice his presence.

Seth held the Sapphazure out before him, knowing that he now had a clear shot at Hammerang. He had no experience in using the Sapphazure, but from what he imagined, it presumably worked through thought, just like the other legendary treasures had.

Although Seth and the Sapphazure were both invisible, a stream of visible water shot out of the relic and completely drenched Hammerang. The ogre was caught completely off guard, and was dripping in water from head to toe.

"Raxtus!" shouted Seth. "Disappear!"

The fairy dragon then vanished before Seth's eyes, and surely enough, the hammer that had been pursuing him stop giving chase and flew back down towards Hammerang.

The ogre then caught the pulsating hammer in his hand, only to receive a powerful electric shock upon contact. The shock did not stop, as Hammerang lost complete control of both himself and his hammer.

"What's going on?" asked Kendra.

"He's shorting out!" exclaimed Warren. "Hammerang can't handle all the excess electricity."

Seth then used the Sapphazure again and shot a small blast of water into the air, which rained down onto Hammerang, which only increased the intensity of his electrocution. After another moment, the electricity stopped flowing, and Hammerang collapsed on the on ground, landing on his back.

Geminus then disabled her force field, and everybody walked over to Hammerang, who was lying in a puddle of water, completely motionless. He was still clenching on the hammer in his hand. Seth then removed his gloves and returned to being visible.

"Is he dead?" asked Kendra. Before anybody could give an answer, electricity surged through Hammerang's entire body. Once it faded, the ogre had seemingly disappeared, hammer and all. However, sitting where Hammerang had fallen, in the small puddle of water, was what appeared to be another one of the ancient relics.


	13. The Dragon Family

**Chapter 13: The Dragon Family**

Kendra approached the relic that was laying on the floor in front of everybody and peered down at it. From from a distance, it appeared to look more or less the same as the Sapphazure. However, a closer examination revealed that while the relic did possess an identical build, the gemstone housed within its center was not blue, but green.

"It can't be," said Kendra, as she bent down and picked up the relic. The moment her hand made contact with the relic, she could feel energy flowing through her arm and hand and into the relic itself, undoubtedly awakening it from its dormant slumber.

"Which relic is it?" asked Seth. "I hope it's the Diavolt."

"It's got a green gem," said Kendra. "So I'd say it's probably the Emerock."

"The Emerock?" griped Seth. "But... why?"

"Who knows," said Warren. "Logic would imply that Hammerang would've revealed the Diavolt."

"Yeah, we got cheated," said Seth.

"Whatever it is," said Kendra, "at least it's ours now."

"I think it looks pretty," said Clover, as Kendra placed the Emerock into her bag. "Whatever it's supposed to be."

"Hey, now that we've got it," said Bracken, "we can head back to Fablehaven."

"Everybody get ready," said Warren, as he proceeded to twist the Translocator, and everybody placed their hand on it.

Skyfrost and Firesquall, however, appeared to be confused, for they just stood in one spot, not knowing what everyone else was expecting them to do.

"What's wrong with them?" asked Seth.

"They probably don't quite understand how the Translocator works," said Geminus.

"Well, I'm not going to give them lecture," said Raxtus, "but I'll explain what it does."

Raxtus proceeded to speak to the wyverns, and they responded with slow nods.

"As long as we're using the Translocator," said Clover, "we can give the wyverns a ride back to their lair."

"Good idea," said Warren. "I almost would've sent them back to Fablehaven with us."

Once the wyverns each placed a one of the _hands_ that was on the tip of their wings onto the Translocator, it transported the entire group out of the vast room that was Storm Sanctum.

The group then reappeared back in the cavern that was the lair where they had first encountered Skyfrost and Firesquall.

"Well," said Geminus, as everybody let go of the Translocator, "I guess this is it."

Raxtus sighed. "I guess this is goodbye. I'll speak to the wyverns on behalf of all of you."

Raxtus turned to face the two wyverns and spoke to them in Draconian. The three of them engaged in an uninterpretable conversation that went on for about a minute.

"You guys," said Raxtus, "Skyfrost and Firesquall don't want to stay here. They said they want to come back with us to Fablehaven. They want to live with Geminus and myself."

"What?" exclaimed Kendra.

"Really?" asked Geminus.

"Are you serious?" asked Seth, sounding excited.

"Um, I don't know how keen Stan will if we come home with two wyverns..." said Clover. "Living wyverns, that is, _Warren_. That dead Revlogg doesn't count."

"They said they'll be on their best behavior," stated Raxtus.

"I see no reason to object," said Warren. "And I don't see why anybody should. Fablehaven is open to all magical creatures. As long as they behave, I don't see any problems. Okay. Let's do this!"

Warren held out the Translocator, and everybody placed their hand on it. It then transported the entire group out of the wyvern's lair. A moment later, they had reappeared in the yard back home at Fablehaven.

Skyfrost and Firesquall both looked around at the preserve around them, taking in their new surroundings.

"You guys wait here," said Warren. "I'm going to go find the others and explain the situation to them."

"Okay," said Geminus. "We're going to go back to our lair."

"As Warren ran off towards the house, Raxtus and Geminus led the rest of the group over towards the entrance to their small lair. As they entered, Raxtus proceeded to speak to the wyverns in Draconian. Neither Kendra nor Seth actually understood what Raxtus was saying, but presumably, he was telling Skyfrost and Firesquall about where they now were.

Shortly thereafter, Warren came running over towards the entrance to the cave, followed by pretty well the rest of the household.

"Oh my," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she stepped into the lair along with the rest of her family.

"Those wyverns," said Grandma. "They appear to be quite young."

"Are they safe?" asked Ingrid, who was looking up at the wyvern brothers, holding Vanessa in her arms. Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod were fluttering around next to Ingrid.

"Of course they're safe," said Geminus. "Place Vanessa down, would you?"

"Sure," said Ingrid, as she placed the baby dragon down on the ground in front of her. Vanessa looked up at the two wyverns and stared directly at them.

"It's okay, Vanessa," said Raxtus, as Skyfrost took a step over towards Vanessa and peered down at her.

"Don't eat us!" shrieked Goldenrod, as she flew behind Ingrid, as did Passion and Larissa.

"What's wrong?" asked Kendra, as Skyfrost lowered his head in disappointment.

"Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod are unable to withstand the fear that Skyfrost and Firesquall naturally emanate," said Clover. "It isn't much, given their youth, but it's enough to startle small fairies like these three."

"It's okay, you two," said Geminus, as she turned to face the two wyverns. "Oh, I wish they could understand me. Raxtus, help me out."

"You can't understand the wyverns?" asked Bright, as Geminus picked up Vanessa.

"They speak Draconian," said Raxtus. "Only I can interpret what they're saying, so I've been acting like a translator this whole time."

"I've got an idea," said Bright. "I'll be back in a bit."

Bright then disappeared in a poof of rainbow sparkles, just as Geminus held out Vanessa in front of Skyfrost and Firesquall.

"It's okay, sweetie," said Geminus. "They won't hurt you.

Kendra watched as Firesquall stuck the tip of his wing out towards Vanessa. The baby dragon looked worried as Firesquall lowered his hand down and gave Vanessa a gentle pat.

"See," said Raxtus. "They're not so bad."

Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod then flew up and perched themselves on Ingrid's shoulders.

"I'm _still_ not that comfortable around them," said Larissa.

"Of course they're nice to Vanessa," said Passion, as Skyfrost proceeded to pat Vanessa. "She's a dragon just like them."

"Now, Raxtus," said Grandpa. "Warren briefed us on our new arrival. But I must ask, just how do you intend on looking after these wyverns?"

"I've got everything under control," said Raxtus. They want to be part of my family. So, in a sense, they'd be children to Geminus and myself, along with Vanessa."

"Can you assure us that they won't cause any grief towards the other creatures on the preserve?" asked Dale. "As friendly as they may seem, none of you know these wyverns very well, and unlike you, Geminus or Vanessa, they don't possess any fairy qualities. They're full-blown wyverns."

"And you know what that means," said Grandpa. "These two are youngsters now, but over time, they'll grow up to be full-sized wyverns. One day they'll completely dwarf you. And with all due respect, most dragons are friendliest in their youngest years. As adults, very few dragons actually turn out to be... nice."

"Hey, Raxtus and Geminus are exceptionally nice!" exclaimed Seth. "If they have any influence on Skyfrost and Firesquall..."

"Raxtus and Geminus are special," said Bracken. "Raxtus is a fairy dragon, while Geminus is a fairy-turned dragon, and Vanessa is their biological child. These wyverns are an entirely different kettle of fish."

"At least give them a chance," said Geminus.

"I don't know..." said Grandpa. "This place isn't exactly a dragon sanctuary. None of the other creatures here have the capacity to deal with a full-grown wyvern. What if something were to go wrong down the road at some point?"

"Listen," said Raxtus. "The whole reason why I left Wyrmroost was so that I could raise a family in a more hostile environment where my friends lived. If Skyfrost and Firesquall are relegated to a dragon sanctuary, then they too would probably grow up to be no different than the other creatures found there. But with our nurturing, they could have a much brighter future."

"I understand," said Grandpa. "They may stay. As long as you and Geminus assume full responsibility for them."

"Oh we will!" exclaimed Geminus. "We don't let you down!"

At that moment, Bright appeared next to everybody, along with Brillia.

"Whoa!" cried Seth. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Your majesty," said Geminus, as she and Raxtus lowered their heads before Brillia, as did Bracken and Clover.

"Hello, Brillia," said Kendra. "I mean, your majesty."

Brillia smirked. "You don't need to be coy. I don't mind if you still prefer to call me Brillia. Enough of my subjects address me as their majesty, that I enjoy hearing my actual name once in a while."

"How has your time as the Fairy Queen been so far?" asked Grandma.

"Very well, thank you. It's not so intimidating now that I've settle into the position. But alas, we've been searching for signs of mother, any at all. But nothing has been found at all."

"That's too bad," said Grandpa.

"But don't be too upset. I'm here to provide a favor for all of you. But especially Raxtus and Geminus."

"A favor?" asked Geminus. "What's that?"

"Well, nobody except for Raxtus is able to understand what these two wyverns are saying," said Brillia. "And vice-versa. But, us fairies are capable of an enchantment that can translate languages. In fact, it's how we're able to converse with you right now."

"Yeah," said Clover. But it's a very complicated spell."

"True," said Brillia. "While difficult to cast, it's nothing I can't do. And I can adjust the spell to translate between English and Draconian if that would be best."

"You can?" exclaimed Geminus.

"Of course. "Now, while I can't go around casting this spell on anybody, I suppose I can make an exception, since Bright informed me of the situation. Raxtus, tell the wyverns to face me and remain still."

"Okay," said Raxtus, as he spoke to the wyverns in Draconian. Once he finished, Skyfrost and Firesquall walked stepped in front of the Fairy Queen and stood still.

"Here goes," said Brillia, as she closed her eyes and held out her hands, palms facing upwards. Two golden, glowing balls of energy appeared above her hands. Suddenly, one ball went flying into Skyfrost's snout, while the other hit Firesquall.

The wyverns each absorbed the energy balls upon impact, as the balls sunk through their scaly skin. Both wyverns proceeded to rub their snouts with their wings, no doubt they were feeling a tingling feeling where the magical balls had made contact with them.

"Did it work?" asked Seth, looking over at the two wyverns.

"Skyfrost?" asked Geminus. "Firesquall? Can you understand me?"

Both of the wyverns turned to face each other, then turned back to stare at the entire group. Kendra could sense from the look in their eyes that they were frightened.

"I..." said Firesquall, stopping to catch his breath. "I do."

"Me... me too," said Skyfrost.

"They spoke!" exclaimed Seth. "All right!"

"Thank you," said Skyfrost, as he turned to face Brillia.

"Yeah," said Firesquall. "I don't know how you did it, but this is incredible!"

"Amazing," said Ingrid. "But, how'd you teach them English so easily?"

"Admittedly, I have taught them nothing," said Brillia. "This spell just automatically provides a two-way translation between English and Draconian. However, doing so will expose them to the English language over time. Eventually, the spell will wear off, and they'll be speaking in English all on their own."

"It's great that you did this," said Skyfrost. "It wouldn't have been easy getting Raxtus to interpret everything for us."

Firesquall then walked up to Warren and lowered his head down. "You're Warren, yes?"

"Sure is," said Warren, patting the green wyvern on his snout. "Thank you for saving my life."

"Yeah," said Seth, as Skyfrost walked over to where he was standing. "You two."

"Seth is it?" asked Skyfrost. We couldn't just let you guys fall to your deaths," he continued, as Seth rubbed his snout.

"You nearly fell to your death?" asked Mrs. Sorenson, who looked as though she was about to faint. "From the sky?"

"Mom, relax," said Seth. "I'm over that."

"Take it easy," said Skyfrost. "Firesquall and I don't even know who most of you are."

"I'm sorry," said Mrs. Sorenson. "I guess some proper introductions are in order. "There sure are a lot of us here. I hope that you can remember all of our names. Where should I even begin?

Mom, mom," said Seth, who could see that Skyfrost seemed to be both confused and overwhelmed. "One at a time, please!"

After everybody had introduced themselves, Geminus took a look at the two wyverns. "I think we've all had a long day," she said. "If you humans and fairies don't mind, I'd like it if us dragons could have some _alone_ time. This whole experience is a lot for Skyfrost and Firesquall to handle."

"You've got a point," said Firesquall. "Thank you, Geminus."

"You don't have to call me Geminus. Call me Mother."

"Really?" asked Skyfrost.

"And you two can call me Father," said Raxtus. "Or Dad."

"Okay then, Mom and Dad," said Firesquall.

"I wonder," said Skyfrost. "Is it correct to address Raxtus and Geminus as Mom and Dad? They're not actually our parents."

"Not in the traditional sense," said Geminus. "But if Scott and Marla can adopt Ingrid and become her new parents, we can do the same for the two of you."

"Scott and Marla?" asked Firesquall. "Ingrid?"

"I can tell we've got a bit of explaining to do," said Raxtus.

"We'll see you later," said Bright, as she waved for everybody to follow her out of the cave.

"Aww," said Seth, as he started to walk out of the cave. "I think Skyfrost has really taken a liking to me."

"Don't be so glum," said Bracken. "In case you forgot, we did manage to find another relic on this adventure."

Warren laughed. "I sure didn't forget. It's just that, even though we did find what we were looking for, I think the real treasure we found wasn't the relic. It was family. And in my eyes, that's far more valuable than any object."

"It didn't help that we got sidetracked by introducing Skyfrost and Firesquall to Raxtus and Geminus," said Seth.

"So let's see this relic you found," said Ingrid, once the group had come to a stop in the middle of the backyard.

"Oh, this is it," said Kendra, as she reached into her bag and pulled out the newly-discovered relic.

"Incredible," said Grandpa. "Have you figured out which relic it is?"

"We suspect that it's the Emerock," replied Warren. "Because of the emerald that's in it. Emerock, emerald. Get it?"

"How does it work?" asked Ingrid.

"I'm not sure," said Kendra, looking at the relic in her hands. "That book said that it had control over the Earth and plant life.

"So, try it out, already," said Seth.

Kendra nodded, then held the Emerock out in front of her. From what she had read from the book, the Emerock worked differently than the other relics. Rather than generating its own element, the Emerock supposedly took control of the ground itself.

Looking down at the grass that was at her feet, Kendra clenched the Emerock in her hands and began to concentrate. After a moment, the gem within the Emerock started to emit a green glow. Suddenly the blades of grass beneath Kendra started growing up, quickly sprouting past her knees and then drooping down.

"That's it?" asked Seth.

"That's just a bit of grass," said Kendra. Continuing to focus, the ground in front of her suddenly jutted up several feet into the air, forming a small hill.

"That' amazing," said Mr. Sorenson.

"Yeah, but is there any way you could possibly undo what you've just done?" asked Dale. "Somebody here has to keep these grounds well-tended."

"Let me see," said Kendra, as she envisioned the bump sinking back down into the ground. Surely enough, once she concentrated, the extended ground lowered and returned to its original, flat formation. The long grass had also shrunk back to its proper length.

"Incredible," said Warren. "With a little more practice, you could probably wreck some havoc."

"Hold on," said Seth. "Why can't _I_ have my own relic?"

"I don't know," said Kendra. "I kinda like this Emerock. I can share it with you if you'd like."

"Oh, forget it," said Seth. "Now that you've claimed it, it no longer sounds so appealing."

"Seth..." said Mr. Sorenson.

"He's just jealous," said Kendra. "Warren and I both have a relic, while he still has nothing. But hey, if he really doesn't care about the Emerock, I guess I'll just hold onto it."

"It's not that," said Seth. "But the Emerock was the only other relic we had any idea as to where it was. The other three, including the Necromaster, are still out there, somewhere. And right now, Murdred is still alive and well, and we still don't have a surefire way of actually destroying him."

"It's still progress," said Bracken. "But, what Geminus said earlier is true. We have had a long day."

"Especially you, Seth," said Bright. "This whole day has been quite a bit of adventuring for you, hasn't it?"

"Why don't we take it easy for now," said Grandpa. "While your mission has indeed reached an impasse, I suggest you all just take a break. Relax. Enjoy the rest of today. Grandma's making her famous brisket tonight."

"Okay," said Seth, who was now intrigued by the inevitable dinner he would soon be feasting on.


	14. Shadows in the Night

**Chapter 14: Shadows in the Night**

The remainder of the day went by rather smoothly. Before long, dinner had come and gone, and the sun was finally starting to set. Now that it was May, the days were significantly longer than they had been during the winter season.

There had undoubtedly been a ton of action today. Not only had Seth recovered the book from Murdred's library, but they had also travelled to Cloud Canyon, befriended Skyfrost and Firesquall, defeated Hammerang, and ultimately claimed the Emerock. At the end of the fray, the entire group, but especially Seth, were exhausted.

For the first time in a while, Seth retired to his bedroom before anyone else in the household. After changing into his sleepwear, closing the blind and climbing into his bed, Seth glanced at his digital alarm clock, which showed in glowing red numbers that the current time was eight fifty-two PM.

Seth closed his eyes and soon found himself falling fast asleep. Had he not been so drowsy at this point, he probably never would've fallen asleep on his own. Seth couldn't wait until for tomorrow to come. He figured that the wyverns probably had enough time to settle in by now, and he could finally get a chance to hang out with Skyfrost.

Wouldn't he? After all, Seth knew that Skyfrost was attached to him more than anybody else in the group. Sure, having a dragon for a friend was nothing new to Seth. But to be a dragon's favorite? That sounded incredible to him! Seth suspected that Raxtus was closest to Kendra over anybody else, since she was the first of the family to encounter him. But at last, Seth finally had a dragon to call his very own.

Sure, there was still the whole conundrum regarding Murdred. But so what? Even if they didn't find the Necromaster, they now had Skyfrost. Seth envisioned the wyvern standing before Murdred and blasting his demonic body with a breath of icy mist, freezing him in a solid block of ice. Maybe, if Murdred couldn't die, they could possibly at least use the opportunity to transport the frozen Demon God back to Fablehaven and lock him in the quiet box.

Without any warning, Seth found himself waking up from his slumber. He then sat up in his bed. Seth tried to fall back onto his mattress, but for some reason, he found himself unable to control his body.

What was going on? Seth focused and tried to let himself fall backwards. But he couldn't. Something, presumably an external force of some degree, was prohibiting him from moving his body in any direction.

Seth attempted to call for help. However, he found himself unable to neither open her mouth, or make use of his vocal cords.

Then, as if he were being controlled like some sort of puppet, Seth slipped out of bed and plopped his feet onto the floor. What was happening to him? He had to be dreaming. But it felt so real. Could he be sleepwalking?

Seth looked down at the floor for a moment, the proceeded to bend down and grab his slippers. Still unable to regain control of his body, Seth stuck his feet in the slippers. While he was standing, Seth managed to take a glance at his bedside clock, which now read two forty-nine AM.

Whatever it was that was going on, it only continued, as Seth proceeded to walk towards his bedroom door. Could the fairies be playing a prank on him? Seth couldn't imagine why. He was on good terms with them now. Unless... that visit he had made to the Demon Domain. Had his body become recontaminated upon returning there?"

Seth then grasped his doorknob, opened his door and walked out into the hallway, shutting the door behind himself. Perhaps all this was the doing of Skyfrost or Firesquall. Or even both of them. As friendly as they seemed, nobody knew them all that well. However, taking control of Seth seemed a highly unlikely for them. Unless, perhaps, they had abilities beyond their ice and fire powers that nobody knew about.

Seth then continued down the hallway and made his way down the stairs, making sure to grab onto the banister and he went downwards. No doubt that whomever was controlling him wanted to try and prevent him from falling. If nothing else, they were being courteous in regard to his safety. Perhaps this _was_ the doing of the fairies. If they were unable to enter the house at night, using their power to take control of Seth and force him outside was probably their best bet.

Seth then made his way towards the front door and found his way outside. Now that he was out of the house, the fairies could easy get a hold of him now. But, even at their worst, forcing Seth out of bed in the middle of the night had never been their style. He must've done something _really_ bad to deserve this.

Seth proceeded to walk through the garden. He tried to call out to the fairies for help, but was still unable to utter so much as a whisper. Instead, he passed through the garden and made his way towards the driveway, which he then proceeded to walk down.

What was going on? If this was the fairies' doing, then they were really going overboard. Compared to this, being transmogrified against his will was starting to seem good. This couldn't have been the work of the fairies. Even at their worst, the fairies were never_ this_ cruel.

Seth continued to walk down the driveway, walking away from the house and into the forest. Before he could get very far, Seth could hear trotting catching up with him from behind. Suddenly, two of the reindeer scampered up in front of him and came to a stop, blocking his path.

Seth finally came to a stop, although it still wasn't under his own control. The two reindeer held their ground and gazed directly at Seth. As it was dark, it was hard for Seth to determine exactly as to which two reindeer these were.

"Let me through," said Seth, who couldn't determine either who or what it was that just prompted him to speak.

The two reindeer remained where they were.

"I said move it," muttered Seth. He attempted to walk around the reindeer, but the two of them lowered their antlers in front of Seth and followed him back and forth, prohibiting him from advancing forward.

"That does it," said Seth. He then narrowed his eyes, and without even trying, focused on turning the darkness of the night completely pitch black. Seth wanted to stop what he was doing but he couldn't. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to harm any of the reindeer.

After a few seconds, Seth found himself ending his grasp on the extreme darkness, allowing it to fade away, restoring the proper light of the night. Now that Seth could see again, he saw that both of the reindeer appeared to be absolutely terrified. Their eyes were squinted shut, while their bodies were quivering in fear.

The reindeer suddenly their eyes, and proceeded to dash off up the driveway, galloping back in the direction towards the house. Regrettably, now that the reindeer were gone, Seth could continue walking down the driveway.

After continuing down the driveway for several more minutes, Seth finally made it to the front gate of the preserve. Still unable to control himself, Seth stopped right in front of the gate and proceeded to lift the up the latch that was keeping the two doors locked, and tossed it over to one side.

Next, Seth pulled open one of the doors, revealing the the short end of the driveway that led out to the nearby backwoods road that was nestled between a forest of trees. Seth then proceeded to walk through the open gate and headed out towards the country road.

"Hello, Seth," said a familiar voice, coming from one side of the driveway.

Unable to look around, Seth's body came to a complete stop. Had he been able to move, Seth would've jumped out of his skin the moment that Helwic stepped onto the driveway and stopped in front of where he was standing.

Despite catching a glimpse of her back in Murdred's castle, Seth could once again get a

Helwic chuckled. "Oh, Seth. Did you really think you could just hide from us forever? You're so naive."

Seth was struggling as hard as he could to free himself from the magical grasp that was being held on his body, but found that he was still completely immobile.

"I can tell that you're trying your hardest to get out of this," said Helwic. "But save your strength. I'm in complete control of you. I have been since I forced you to wake up and get yourself out of bed."

Where were those reindeer? Surely they could tell that something was up. Hopefully, they had gone for help, and reinforcements were already on their way. Right now, Seth didn't even care who might come for him. Just the two reindeer themselves, ramming Helwic into a tree with their antlers would've been enough. Why did they have to run off like they did, even if he did threaten them with darkness?

"As much as I hate to admit it, seizing control of you like this has been incredibly taxing on my power. I'd love to gloat, but I need to get you out of here and back to the Demon Domain as soon as quickly as possible."

Helwic turned herself away from Seth. She then held up her hands, both of which immediately ignited in flames. Next, she directed the fire off of her hands and in front of her, allowing the flames to magically produce a black portal before herself and Seth.

"After you," said Helwic. The negafae then stood still and proceeded to shut her eyes.

Still not in control of himself, Seth started to walk towards the open portal. Her eyes still closed, Helwic was no doubt preoccupied by taking control of him. Alas, this meant that Seth lacked any ability to fight back against the negafae.

Seth then stepped through the portal and arrived back in what appeared to be a small room within Murdred's castle. A moment later, Helwic passed through the portal behind him and used her magic to seal it up.

"Enough of this," said Helwic, as she shot a small blast of fire from her fingertip at Seth. He expected the fire to roast his body to a crisp. But instead of burning him, the flames magically produced a rope around his arms and waist that would keep him immobilized.

Helwic then snapped her fingers. A strange sensation suddenly tingled itself through Seth's body. Seth lost his balance and fell down onto his rear end, which landed on the cold, stone flooring of the castle.

"Ow," griped Seth, as he attempted to wriggle himself free from the rope. What was going on? Now he could speak and move his body once again, even though he was being confined by the rope.

"Welcome back," said Helwic.

"Helwic," said Seth, as he looked up at the negafae. "What have you done? What's going on?"

"Take a guess," she replied.

"Why have you brought me here?"

"Lord Murdred wants to have you back. Isn't it obvious?"

"Forget it! Doesn't he realize that he and I aren't exactly on the same team?"

"We have our way of getting you to cooperate. Remember the elixir? We still have it. Lots of it. That single batch we made last month? It's still around. And even if it weren't, who cares? It's not like concocting that elixir took very much effort anyway. If we really wanted to, we could prepare a enough elixir to keep you drinking it for the rest of your life. Not that you'd need so much, anyway. One does should be plenty."

"No way!" blurted Seth. "I refuse to drink your stupid elixir!"

"Too bad," said Helwic. "But why protest? It's not like you have any say in this matter. Lord Murdred wants you back as his disciple, and that's exactly what he's going to get."

"I won't let you!" snapped Seth.

"And just how do you propose you'll do that? I already got you this far under my own influence now, didn't I? I'm a powerful negafae. What power do you possibly have to stop me with?"

Seth took in a deep breath. "You're right. I really can't do anything to stop you. But, at least tell me this. How on Earth did you return to Fablehaven and take control of me?"

"I suppose I can disclose my little secret to you," said Helwic. "I see this opportunity as your last request, and words are cheap. But don't get too comfortable. The moment I finish, I'm taking you to see Murdred."

Seth nearly swallowed his tongue. He had already garnered a sinking feeling knowing that a visit with Murdred was impending, and it was undoubtedly the last thing for him to look forward to.

"You see, Seth. There is a magical barrier surrounding this castle which protects it from unwanted intruders. Now, the monsters of the realm typically know better than to attempt to breach the barrier. But as you know, accidents happen, and collisions do occur every now and then. _However_, yesterday morning, we detected the first breach in quite some time."

"You did?" asked Seth. "Well, what does that have to do with me?"

"Fairy magic. When the adlets I and went to investigate the tampered barrier, I detected traces of fairy magic in the vicinity. Do you know what that tells us?"

"That... fairies had been in the area?"

"Very good," replied Helwic. "Now, what fairies do we know of that have been running around the Demon Domain not too long ago? Give up? It's your friends. Seth, we know that it was your fairy friends who infiltrated the Demon Domain, attempting to enter Murdred's castle."

"Look, whatever these fairies did, I had nothing to do with it!" exclaimed Seth. "I can tell that you're upset, but why are you taking this all out on me?"

"I don't wish to get into the technicalities of the situation. However, I will say that this finding did, in fact, intrigue Lord Murdred. He believes that we are being targeted by the fairy community, and he's not all that thrilled about that prospect. As he has been recovering from that little assault on him that took place last month, Lord Murdred now feels that it's time to come after Seth Sorenson again."

"He still wants me as his disciple?"

"Lord Murdred insists. Had the Fairy Queen not intervened, our plan would have not failed. And now that the Fairy Queen's whereabouts are unknown, it only makes sense for us to give our plan a second attempt."

"But, how on Earth did you even find me?"

"That was easy. We're well aware of Fablehaven's location,so it's more than feasible enough for us to travel there. And while transporting ourselves anywhere beyond the border is impossible, there's nothing to stop us from arriving elsewhere in the mortal world and travelling all the way to the gate."

"And how did you gain control of me?"

Helwic scoffed. "I don't quite think you grasp the full extent of my power. In case you forgot, I can take control of peoples' minds. From a distance, this is not an easy thing to do. However, because you are a shadow charmer, taking control of you was still within the realm of possibility."

"But, there's a magical barrier protecting Fablehaven! How did you ever bypass it?"

"That barrier is like any other magical barrier. It may keep out unwanted visitors, but it has no power against raw magic. It it did, I would never have been able to assume control of you like I did and drawn you all the way out of Fablehaven."

"No," said Seth, wishing that he could go back in time and warn everybody at home over what was about to happen.

"Yes. I was worried when those two meddlesome reindeer showed up. But fortunately, I was able to trigger your umbrakinetic abilities to drive them away."

"Please!" said Seth. "What makes you think I even should go through with all of this? Not only am I your enemy, but I killed your friend Demoric."

Helwic groaned. "We don't care one bit about your persona or standpoint. All that matters to us is that, in the end, you are a shadow charmer. You have a quality we so longly desire, and so help us, we are going to exploit it, even if that means turning you into a whole new person."

"No!" screamed Seth, struggling to break free from the ropes that were keeping him confined. "Why do you even _want_ to help Murdred? He... he views women like you as inferior beings!"

"I may not entirely agree with everything that Murdred believes in," said Helwic. "But, he is my master, and at the end of the day, I get the satisfaction of knowing that I am contributing towards the greater good."

"Greater _good_?" asked Seth. "Listen, Helwic! You seem to have a very misguided view in regards to reality!"

"I wouldn't say that. We are from two different worlds. Your opinion of what is _good _is entirely different from that of mine. Don't think you can persuade me to think differently, because what may seem good for you, would be highly undesirable for me."

"Please!" said Seth. "Don't do this!"

"The answer is no!" blurted Helwic. "I am taking you to see Murdred right now! And nothing you say is going to change my mind, so shut your mouth and come with me."

Helwic snapped her finger, causing Seth to levitate up into the air. Helwic then directed Seth over to the door of the room, and she followed along behind him.


	15. Determiners

**Chapter 15: Determiners**

Helwic snapped her fingers, prompting the door that stood before Seth to unlock and suddenly fling open. Awaiting Seth on the other side of the doorway was one of the hallways of Murdred's castle.

"Come on," said Helwic, as she used her magic to continue keeping Seth's body levitating roughly a foot above the floor. She then directed Seth through the door and out into the hallway.

Seth looked ahead as Helwic proceeded to lead him down the hallway. Not very long, Seth could see the double doors that led into Murdred's throne room awaiting him at the end. Before he knew it, the two of them had now come to a stop directly in front of the doors.

"Open," said Helwic, prompting both of the double doors to open inwards.

The moment that Seth could see into the throne room, he was immediately drawn to Murdred, who was sitting on his throne at the far end of the room. The last memory that Seth had of this room was when he had been force-fed that awful elixir which had corrupted his mind by turning it evil and causing him to obey Murdred.

"Well done, Helwic," said Murdred, as Seth and the negafae approached the dais at the far end of the room on which Murdred's throne was located. "I'm pleased to see that the retrieval of Seth was a success."

Seth looked up at Murdred. The Demon God was just as terrifying as the last time that he saw him. Although Murdred wasn't much larger than Seth, the mere sight of his scaly, ink-black skin, monstrous, humanoid body, glowing white eyes and nest of horns that sat on his head reminded Seth just how much he truly despised him.

"Murdred," said Seth, as Murdred set him down on his feet. "Why are you doing this?"

"I already answered that question for you," snapped Helwic.

"Silence, Helwic!" blared Murdred. "That question was for _me_ to answer! Not you. Mind your place!"

"Yes, Lord Murdred."

Murdred turned his head back to face Seth. "At last. Seth Sorenson. Slayer of Demoric. I have you back, once again."

"You're making a huge mistake," said Seth.

"Oh yeah?" asked Murdred. "Well who's going to stop me? Even if they figure out what's going on, I wouldn't count on your friends showing up just in time to rescue you."

Seth thought to himself. Murdred had a point. The others had no idea as to where Seth had gone. Even if they had concluded that it was to the Demon Domain, their only way in was through a portal that could take them anywhere. Seth had only been here for a few minutes. There was no way they could show up and rescue him any time soon.

"Murdred, are you doing all of this _just _to increase your power?" asked Seth.

"I have to. When we were last together, that bloody Fairy Queen did something to me that was most unpleasant."

Seth thought back to the fight that had taken place between Murdred and the Fairy Queen back at Fablehaven. The last move that the Fairy Queen was attacking Murdred with a supercharged Vasilis. The power of the impact was so intense, it not only destroyed Murdred's evil eye, but the Fairy Queen was declared missing in action due to the aftermath.

"Is this about... your evil eye?" asked Seth.

Murdred stood up from his throne and walked over to the top step of his dais. He then bent his head down so that he was looking directly as Seth.

"Look what happened to me," said Murdred, as he closed his two standard eyes. The large, vertical eyelids on the center of his head then slid open. Once the _teeth_ of the eyelids had moved aside, Seth was startled when he saw a dark, empty socket in place of where Murdred's evil eye normally belonged.

"Yikes," said Seth, trying to imagine what it would be like to be missing an eye.

"I don't appreciate being in this state," said Murdred, as he closed his evil eye and reopened his normal ones. "Without my evil eye, my full potential can never be reached. And losing my right-hand negafae along with it was not something I was too thrilled about!"

"So, what do you expect me to do about this?" asked Seth, not looking forward to Murdred's response.

"Seth, I didn't always have this evil eye. As you know, I was once an ordinary human. It was my descent into demonhood that made me what I am today. Growing this evil eye was a gradual progression of mine. But it didn't happen overnight. However, Helwic and I believe that I could vastly accelerate this process and regrow my eye if we had a sufficient source of dark energy. That's where you come in."

"You can't do this to me!" snapped Seth. "This isn't fair!"

"I'm sorry," said Murdred. "But, look at where you stand, Seth. You are but a mere boy with untapped shadow potential and no one else to aid you. I am the God of all demons, and you are standing in my very domain. All the native of this realm are loyal to me. Give it up. You cannot and will not win this fight."

"Shall we begin the procedure, Lord Murdred?" asked Helwic.

"Yes! I grow tired of bickering with this fool. It's time to do what we should've done in the first place. Helwic, bring him the elixir!"

"Stop!" screamed Seth, who was still tied up with the rope. He turned around and watched as Helwic walked over to a nearby wall, where a cauldron was sitting. Seth remembered the cauldron, for it appeared to be the same one that had contained the elixir as before.

"This won't take long." said Helwic, as she grabbed a bottle off of a nearby table. She then lowered the bottle down into the cauldron and scooped out a glob of the gruesome elixir.

Seth wanted to run away, but as his arms and legs were confined by the rope, he knew he wouldn't be able to get very far. He watched as Helwic walked back towards him, holding the bottle of elixir. An excessive amount of formula was running down one side of the bottle and leaving black droplets on the floor.

"Go on, Seth," said Murdred, as Helwic held the bottle up to Seth's face. Seth caught a waft of the elixir, the putrid stench of which was just as awful as the first time he had been forced to consume it. "Drink it."

"Okay," said Seth cautiously. "I guess I have no choice."

Seth opened his mouth up wide. See that Seth was keeping it held open, Helwic proceeded to pour some of the elixir into his mouth. The taste was absolutely rancid.

"Eww!" mumbled Seth, as he swooshed the elixir around in his mouth.

"Drink it," said Murdred. "Drink it all up."

Forcing himself to oblige, Seth made himself swallow the elixir. As the liquid passed down his throat, Seth could feel an almost burning-like feeling searing down his esophagus.

"There, I drank it," said Seth, holding his mouth open to prove to Murdred and Helwic that he had indeed swallowed the elixir.

There was a brief pause. From what Seth could tell, everyone was waiting for him to transcend form being his normal self into turning evil.

"Well?" asked Murdred. "What's this all about?"

"I... I don't know," said Helwic. "Seth still seems to be his regular, normal self. I don't think anything's changed."

"But he _drank_ the elixir!"

"It's the same elixir from before," said Helwic.

"It's obviously lost its potency. Make a fresh batch. Now."

"But the elixir should still be effective. I don't understand why it's not affecting Seth this time."

"Because there's something wrong with the elixir, you bloody ignoramus!" snarled Murdred.

"I think there may be something wrong with Seth," said Helwic. "Perhaps something about him has changed since out last encounter. Although I have been detecting darkness from within him, it seems to be... how should I say... weaker than it was previously."

"Weaker?" asked Murdred, as he crossed his arms. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Neither do I. It's possible that Seth has taken some sort of extra precaution against us. Is that true, Seth?"

"Extra precaution?" asked Seth, who was legitimately confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You have done something to yourself since you were last with us, Seth. Tell us what that something was. NOW!"

"Take it easy!" gasped Seth. "I have not done anything to change myself. Honest!"

Murdred sneered at Seth. "Irksome brat. You're hiding something from us, I know it. But rest assured, we will figure out your little game, and in the end you'll conform to me."

"I'd rather _die_ than help you."

"But you'd be of no use to us if you're dead," said Murdred. "Only one way to deal with this. Helwic, I propose that we conduct a little _test_ on Seth. Bring me a fairy. Now!"

"As you command, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she turned away and proceeded to walk towards the entrance to the throne room, then left through the double doors.

"Murdred," said Seth. "I'm serious! Nothing to do with me or my lifestyle has changed since we were last together! Honest!"

"Don't give me that lip" blurted Murdred. "The whole reason we're even going through with this test is to make sure that you are in fact still worthy of becoming my disciple."

"When you told Helwic to bring you a fairy," said Seth, "where exactly is she getting this fairy from?"

"Aren't you the curious one?" huffed Murdred. "But I'll tell you anyway, if only to see the look on your face."

Seth did not like the sound of where this conversation was going one bit.

"In the basement of this castle, we keep a small court of fairies held captive."

"What?" exclaimed Seth. "But how?"

"As much as I despise fairies, the fact that they are my very antithesis does provide insight. By keeping several fairies in captivity, doing so has given my negafae the opportunity to study and examine them. Not only are we able to understand them better, but we can learn from them. Learn to make ourselves stronger."

"Why are there fairies in the Demon Domain, anyway?"

"Because over the years, my adlets have brought them back from their various journeys into your mortal world. No fairy is easy to find, but every so often, they've successfully captured a fairy here and there, which they then bring back into the Demon Domain."

"You can't be serious," said Seth. "There's no way a fairy could survive here in the Demon Domain for very long. Is that your plan? Force fairies into the Demon Domain so that they turn into negafae?"

"As intriguing as that idea seems, it's hardly worth all the effort. And by doing so, it would make my intentions for them impossible. You see, the room that the fairies are held captive in is protected by magic that shields them from the dark atmosphere from the Demon Domain. It also protects them from turning into imps due to being trapped indoors overnight."

"Really?" asked Seth. "As horrible as it is to keep fairies as your prisoners, you seem to be doing them a favor by preserving them in a protected room."

"Is that what you think? Well, the fairies aren't too thrilled about it. This room is no paradise. Even though the room is hospitable to them, it's actually a dreary prison, from which they are powerless to escape. And even if they _could _escape, they would succumb to the darkness of this realm before long."

"That's awful," said Seth, thinking back to the time when he had captured a fairy in a jar, which had been almost three years ago. Back then, he had been fairly naive, and did not understand the nature of fairies at all. Now he knew better than to do such a horrible thing.

But thinking about what Murdred had told him, Seth felt devastated. The Demon God seemed to be proud of his accomplishment. And Murdred wasn't keeping the fairies around as pets. No, Murdred wanted to use them like lab rats, just for the sole intent of study them. He did not care about the welfare of the fairies at all.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Seth.

"Oh, give me a break," said Murdred. "Do you really think that some sob story is going to get me to change my mind and release those fairies back into the mortal world? Well, in case you forgot, this is my world! I'm the boss here. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

Seth was unable to think up a response. He kept silent, closed his eyes and shook his head. Murdred simply laughed.

A moment later, the doors to the throne room flung open, and Helwic entered, now accompanied by Xipp, Xeero and Xillch.

"Well, well," said Xipp, as he, Xeero and Xillch scampered up towards where Seth was standing. "I knew I had to see it to believe it."

"Helwic got Seth back," said Xillch, as he pressed his nose against Seth and sniffed his body.

"Bet you thought you could hide from us forever," said Xeero.

"Back away from Seth, you three," said Murdred. "I don't want this little experiment to experience any interference."

The three adlets scampered to one side of the room as Helwic approached Seth. In her hands, the negafae appeared to be holding a glass dome with a glowing, pink light inside of it.

"A _pink_ fairy?" growled Murdred, as he squinted his eyes. "How revolting! I hate pink."

"Then you won't mind what happens to her after this is all said and done," said Helwic, placing the glass dome down on the floor by Seth's feet. She then backed away to where the adlets had moved. She then snapped her fingers, causing the ropes that were wrapped around him to vanish.

"Very well," said Murdred. "Go on, Seth. Lift up the dome. Try to help the poor little fairy."

Not knowing what to think, Seth complied by kneeling down and lifting up the glowing glass dome by the small handle that was on the top. Underneath the glass, Seth was able to see the glowing, pink-haired fairy that Murdred had spoken of.

The fairy appeared to be terrified, as she looked up at Seth. She then attempted to fly towards him, but by doing so, Seth discovered that she was tethered down to a small base by a tiny chain that was connected to her ankle.

"You poor thing," said Seth, as he grabbed the base with one hand the chain with the other. It didn't look very strong, so Seth attempted to rip the chain off of the base, hoping to free the fairy.

"Don't bother with that," said Helwic. "Just touch the fairy with your bare hand."

"Okay," said Seth, who feared that this was probably some sort of trap. He then placed his fingers upon the fairy. She then proceeded to hug his fingers as best as she could.

"Helwic," said Murdred. "What is that fairy doing?"

"I don't get it," said Helwic. "It's like that fairy is attracted to Seth."

Indeed, Seth could feel a small, soothing feeling passing through the fairy's body and into his hand.

"WHAT?" roared Murdred. "That shouldn't be! Seth is a shadow charmer! The fairy should fear him! Not hug him!"

"You don't think keeping that fairy in the castle all this time has had any effect on her, do you?" asked Xipp.

"Xipp, you know I keep tabs on all the fairy prisoners," said Helwic. "This fairy is in good health."

"So, the fairy can withstand Seth, can she?" asked Murdred.

"Apparently. I could tell that something about Seth has indeed changed."

"Look, I'm sorry," said Seth. "But maybe I haven't changed. Maybe this fairy really has built up a resistance to darkness."

"I'll be the judge of that!" growled Murdred, as he stood up from his throne and leapt down from atop the dais, landing in front of Seth and the fairy.

"What are you doing?" asked Seth, as Murdred loomed over him. Seth could then feel the fairy hiding behind his hand, hugging it fiercely.

"Let me see the fairy, Seth."

"No!" said Seth, not wanting to imagine what Murdred might want to do to her.

"Then I'll just take her!" snapped Murdred, yanking the base away from Seth and dragging the fairy along with it.

"What are you doing?" asked Seth, as Murdred dangled the fairy by her chain in front of himself.

The fairy squealed in fear as Murdred extended his other claw towards her. She was trying her hardest to fly away, but was restrained by the chain. Murdred then placed the tip of his right index finger onto the fairy.

At the very moment when Murdred's finger had made contact, the fairy instantly froze and became silent. Suddenly, her body turned completely grey. She then crumbled apart, landing on the floor as a small pile of ash.

"I knew it," said Murdred. "I knew there was nothing wrong with her."

Seth could now feel his blood boiling. "You just killed an innocent fairy! What'd she ever do to you?"

Murdred scoffed. "She... existed."

"You MONSTER!" screamed Seth, as he charged at Murdred and proceeded to pound his fists against the Demon God's scaly stomach. Tears were now dripping from Seth's eyes.

"Enough!" snarled Murdred, pushing Seth to the floor with his brute strength. "Adlets, take this little deviant to the dungeon. We'll worry about him later. If he won't cooperate, perhaps we should search for someone else who will. Additionally, it's very late and I'm tired. Keep a constant watch on Seth. I don't want him escaping for any reason."

"Too bad his friend Sarah won't be around to help him," said Helwic.

"No!" said Seth, as the adlets surrounded him. "Please don't!"

"Oh, shut up," said Xeero. "We're all tired."

"I think it's time that Seth got a little shut-eye," said Helwic, as the adlets picked him up. Seth then felt as Helwic hit him with a blast of her magic.

Once Xeero had lifted Seth into the air, Seth could feel his eyelids getting very heavy. Despite the awkward position he was in, Seth soon found himself falling sound asleep.


	16. Stealth

**Chapter 16: Stealth**

The following morning, Kendra found herself interrupted from her sleep by somebody shaking her body until she had awoken from her slumber.

Feeling groggy, Kendra squirmed to get away from the offender, and slowly opened her eyes. Staring down at Kendra was Grandpa, who still had his hands placed on her body.

"Grandpa," moaned Kendra, as he removed his hands from her body. "What do you want? What time is it."

"Get up, Kendra," said Grandpa. "Seth is missing."

"Missing?" asked Kendra, as she sat up, now overcome with a feeling of worry upon hearing Grandpa's bad news. "What do you mean, missing? Did he just take off again? Like when he went to see the Singing Sisters with Raxtus."

"This is different" said Grandpa, as Kendra got out of her bed and stood up. "From what we're being told, the reindeer caught him marching off of the property last night. All by himself."

"No. Why would he do such a thing?"

"We're have no idea why," said Grandpa, as he made his way over to the door that led down to the second floor. "He left no note and no one else or nothing appears to be missing. Get dressed and meet up downstairs."

"Okay," said Kendra, as Grandpa closed the door behind himself and continued down the stairs.

Kendra glanced at her bedside clock and saw that the time was now 5:09 AM. Although she was still a bit sleepy, Kendra was still able to get her bearings. She proceeded to head down to the bathroom and washed up. Next, she went back to her room and changed into some fresh clothes. Now properly dressed, Kendra made her way downstairs and entered the living room.

Kendra found her parents, Grandparents, Ingrid and Dale all sitting in the living room. Unlike Kendra, the rest of her family all appeared to still be in their sleepwear.

"This is awful," said Mr. Sorenson, shaking his head. His wife placed a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"Why would Seth just... _take off_?" asked Ingrid. "Why would he ever want to leave this place?"

"Seth often has a... _peculiar_ way of tackling his problems," replied Grandpa.

"This sort of thing has happened before, Ingrid," said Kendra. "It's not unheard of for Seth to take off in the middle of the night. But, I can't imagine why he'd want to do such a thing."

"It must have something to do with his trip to the Demon Domain," said Grandma. "It's the only explanation that makes any sense whatsoever."

"It's hard to say what it was," said Grandpa. "Raxtus and Bright were with him, and they didn't detect anything overly suspicious."

At that moment, the front door opened up. Warren and Clover all made their way into the living room. As with the rest of the family, they were still in their sleepwear, and had not yet groomed themselves after waking up.

"We rushed over here as soon as Dale called us," said Warren, running one hand through his uncombed hair, while he scrubbed his stubble with the other.

"We ran into the fairies outside the house," said Clover. "They want us all to meet up with them outside."

"How did this all start, anyway?" asked Kendra, as everybody else got up and made their way out of the living room.

"When I went outside to start my morning chores," replied Dale, "the fairies told me about what happened."

"What exactly was that?"

"The fairies can explain it better then I can," replied Dale, as the family made their way outside and onto the front porch. Standing at the foot of the porch were two of the reindeer. Floating before the reindeer were Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod.

"Good morning, girls," said Grandpa, trying not to sound too woeful.

"I'm going to contact Bright and the dragons," said Clover, as she closed her eyes to communicate telepathically.

"What happened?" asked Mrs. Sorenson. "Do any of you know what's happened to Seth?"

"Well," said Larissa, "according to Dancer and Prancer, they detected Seth leaving the house last night, heading towards the front gate."

The two reindeer nodded in unison.

"They tried to stop Seth, but apparently he was acting very strangely," noted Passion.

"So Seth used his power over darkness to scare them off," said Goldenrod.

"What?" asked Grandpa. "Why would he do such a thing?"

Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all shrugged in response.

"This was in the middle of the night, yes?" asked Mr. Sorenson.

"Pretty well," replied Passion. "After succumbing to the darkness, Dancer and Prancer had to wait until sunrise before they could muster the courage to seek help. That was when they woke us up and told us everything."

"And then we found Dale," said Larissa. "Just as he stepped outside to start his chores."

At this point, Bright and Raxtus both approached the group from different directions and landed before them.

"Clover told us what happened," said Bright.

"Where is Seth now?" asked Raxtus.

"Nobody knows," said Goldenrod. "But it's safe to assume he left the preserve."

"My guess is he went to the Demon Domain," said Grandpa. "Possibly to learn about the other relics."

"Why would he do that?" asked Raxtus. "And on his own, too? He knows we're willing to help him."

"It's crazy," said Warren. "Even by Seth's standards."

"There's obviously something about all this that doesn't add up," said Bright. "I think we should return to the Demon Domain and see if we can locate Seth. From what we're being told, he doesn't seem to be acting normally at all."

"Why do I get the impression that Murdred has something to do with all this?" asked Kendra.

"Probably because he does," replied Warren. "I don't know why, but I've got this sinking feeling that he's in some way responsible for all of this.

"What should we do?" asked Mrs. Sorenson.

"As risky as this is, I want somebody to head into the Demon Domain to see if they can figure out what's going on," replied Grandpa.

"I want to go," said Kendra.

"I advise you to wear the gloves, Kendra. And to travel on Raxtus. The less likely you are to get spotted, the better."

"But if I wear the gloves, it'll just be Raxtus and myself. I know that's what Seth did, but he may need our help, and I'm not best-suited for the Demon Domain like he is."

"I'll go with you, too," said Bright.

"So will I," said Warren.

"How?" asked Grandma. "There's only one pair of gloves."

"As long as the wearer doesn't move, they only need one glove to stay invisible. If Raxtus carries both Kendra and myself around on his back, and neither of us move around, we can each wear one of the gloves and still remain unseen."

"It's risky," said Grandpa. "But if Seth's in danger, he'll need all the help he can get."

"And that's if the gloves are still here," said Dale. "But they must be. If Seth were sneaking off the property, why would he _not_ wear the gloves and just avoid getting caught in the first place?"

"Either way," said Warren. "Let's go back inside and get ready. We'll get our gear together and head out after that."

The family went back inside the house. Kendra ate a quick breakfast consisting only of a granola bar and a glass of orange juice. Surely enough, all of their gear and equipment was still around, including the artifacts, the invisibility gloves and the two relics.

Kendra even took a moment to use the Occulus, in an attempt to locate Seth. As she feared, nothing turned up, implying that he was indeed out of range in the Demon Domain.

Afterwards, Kendra and Warren headed outside, where they met up with Bright, Clover and Raxtus.

"Are we sure this is even safe?" asked Kendra, as she climbed up onto Raxtus' back. "I mean, what about Geminus? Or the wyverns? They could help us."

"They won't be much help if we can't conceal them like we can ourselves," said Bright, as Warren climbed up and sat behind Kendra. Clover, please open a portal to the Demon Domain."

"Take care," said Clover, as she held out her hands, then unleashed some magical energy from her hands to conjure up a portal before the group.

"I'll see you on the other side," said Bright, as she disappeared in a puff of sparkles.

"Put this on," said Warren, passing one of the invisibility gloves to Kendra. Accepting it, Kendra slid the glove on her left hand and proceeded to grasp onto Raxtus' neck. She then felt Warren grabbing onto her shoulders.

Raxtus then used his own power to render himself invisible.

"You're all good," said Clover. "As long as Warren and Kendra make as little movement as possible, nobody should be able to see you."

"Well then," said Raxtus, "let's get going!"

Raxtus proceeded to march into the open portal. Once he stepped through, Kendra found herself back in the Demon Domain. The desolate wasteland brought back nothing but bad memories from her prior visits to the place.

Looking around, Kendra could see that Raxtus was currently standing on a flat piece of rocky land, surrounded by a couple of gnarled, nearly-dead trees. Grey clouds populated the red sky in every direction. Turning her head back, Kendra watched as the portal closed behind them.

"Kendra," said Warren, "try not to look around too much. Your body flickers in and out of sight when you do that."

"Sorry," said Kendra, turning her head forward again.

"We've got to find Murdred's castle again," said Raxtus. "This should be fun."

Raxtus proceeded to flap his wings and took off into the air. As he ascended towards the sky, Kendra was able to glance down at the Demon Domain beneath her. Had she not been used to flying on an invisible dragon, the whole experience would've given her the impression that she could fall to her death at any moment.

Kendra also discovered that as long as she moved her body at a slow enough pace, the glove was able to retain the invisibility it granted her body.

Raxtus soared around the sky of the Demon Domain, hoping to find Murdred's castle. However, after searching around for several minutes and not coming up with any results, Kendra was starting to feel as though they had no hope at finding the place on their own.

"I wish Seth were here," said Raxtus. "He was able to converse with the natives here, and got us directions to the Demon Domain. Not that I look forward to doing that sort of thing again. Those monsters are anything but friendly."

"It's too bad we can't map this place out," said Warren. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Murdred's castle would be a good start," said Kendra. "If we actually knew where it was."

_Hold on_, came Bright's, who had been projecting her voice via telepathy. _I'm picking up a strong detection of darkness. Stronger than usual for the Demon Domain._

"Where is it?" asked Raxtus.

_It's coming up to your right. Head towards one o'clock._

"Got it," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to veer off to the right, then proceeded to continue flying onward.

Roughly a minute later, Kendra could see Murdred's castle ahead in the distance.

"It worked!" exclaimed Warren. "Nice going, Bright. You should've just done whatever you just did from the start!"

_I did_, stated Bright. _I was on full alert for high concentrations of darkness. The fact they I managed to detect Murdred's castle was due to the fact that we had gotten close enough, which was due solely to sheer luck._

"Hey, as long as we made it, I'm happy," said Raxtus, as he soared down towards the large area that surrounded the castle. He then came to a landing near the bridge that crossed over the moat that surrounded the castle.

At the other end of the bridge was the warthog sentry who was standing guard next to the front doors of the castle.

"Great," muttered Raxtus. "The doors are closed."

"Do we have something to deal with this guy?" asked Kendra.

"You took along the Emerock, didn't you?" asked Warren.

"Yeah."

"Well, those doors may be large, but they're still made of wood. Maybe you can use the Emerock to fling them open."

"It's worth a shot," said Kendra, as she slowly reached into her invisible bag, felt around for the Emerock and pulled it out. She then aimed it at the doors on the other side of the bridge.

Concentrating as strongly as she could, Kendra directed the Emerock's power at the two doors. Suddenly, both of the doors swung open, knocking the sentry off of his feet and back against the side wall.

"Now!" exclaimed Warren.

Raxtus proceeded to dash across the bridge, carrying Warren and Kendra with him. He soon passed through the doors and stumbled into the front hall, where he came to a sudden stop.

Kendra looked back and saw the sentry poking his head in from the other side of the door. Kendra, Warren and Raxtus all remained completely still, so as to not give away their appearance. The sentry growled something to himself, rubbed his head, then closed the front doors of the castle.

"That was close," said Raxtus. "So, where do you suppose Seth is?"

"If he's here," said Kendra. "Then he's either with Murdred, or locked up somewhere."

"It's still early in the morning," said Warren. "Even Murdred must need a good night's rest. So hopefully, Seth's being help captive somewhere."

"Like the dungeon?" asked Raxtus.

"Possibly," said Kendra. "But, I don't know how to get down there."

"I remember Seth saying it was down one of these hallways," said Warren. "I think it was the one off to the right."

"Let's try it," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to walk down the hallway, still invisible.

As the explored the hallway, the group found that its walls were adorned mostly with paintings of Murdred and other demonic creatures, none of whom any of the group could actually recognize.

After they passed by several doors, they soon found a stairwell off to the side that lead downwards.

Raxtus proceeded to walk down the spiralling stairwell, which went down for what felt like several dozen feet. Before long, they had reached the bottom, where there was a small hallway. At the end of the hallway was an open room, where another sentry stood.

Raxtus slowly crept down the hallway, so as to not alert the rhinoceros-like sentry that was on guard. Nevertheless, once they got close enough, the sentry began to suspect that somebody was close by, but was unable to put his finger on who exactly it was.

Kendra gazed into the room at the end of the hallway and saw several prison doors. They were now in the main room of the dungeon. However, what really caught her attention were Xipp and Xeero. Xipp was sitting down against one of the doors, while Xeero was next to him, apparently taking a snooze.

"Warren," whispered Kendra. "What do we do?"

The rhinoceros sentry let out a grumble, as though he had detected something.

"What was that?" asked Xipp, as he got up and walked over towards the sentry. He then sniffed the air. "Hey, I smell something funny in here."

Suddenly, a blast of water went flying at Xipp, knocking the red adlet off of his feet.

"Xipp!" said the sentry, as he walked over to the fallen adlet. "What was that?"

"I don't know," said Xipp, as he got back up. Warren then shot another blast of water at Xipp and the sentry, which sent both of them flying into the wall.

"What's going on out there?" asked another adlet from behind the door that Xipp had been guarding. Presumably, it was Xillch.

"Open the door, Kendra," said Warren, as Raxtus approached the door, which Xeero was still sleeping off to the side of.

Kendra then used the Emerock to force the door the open inwards, busting it out of its locked position. Inside the cell was Seth, who was lying on the floor, sound asleep.

"Hey, what was that?" asked Xillch, as he stumbled away from behind the opened door. Apparently, the door had been flung open and into his face.

Xillch then sniffed the air. "I smell humans! Not just Seth. And a dragon! Guys! Get in here!"

Xipp and the sentry hurried into the cell. Both of them appeared to be sopping wet.

"Something's not right, here," said Xipp.

"Xeero, get up already!" shouted Xillch. "We've got intruders! Wherever they are."

Warren then blasted Xillch, Xipp and the sentry with the Sapphazure, knocking them all against the wall.

"Did you see that?" exclaimed Xipp, his body dripping with water. "Somebody's shooting us with water! Over there!"

Xeero then entered the cell, apparently still half-asleep.

"They're over there," said Xillch, pointing towards the group. "Can you smell them?"

"Bright," said Warren. "NOW!"

Bright then appeared in front of the group, completely visible.

"It's a fairy!" screamed Xipp. "Get her!"

Warren attempted to blast the adlets with the the Sapphazure again, but they all leapt out of the way, each landing in different corners of the room.

At that moment, Bright opened up a portal up against one of the walls, then used her magic to quickly levitate Seth through it.

"They're trying to escape!" exclaimed Xeero, as Raxtus charged towards the portal. "After them!"

Raxtus stopped just short of the portal, then turned around and unleash a wave of glowing white fire-like energy across the room, which the adlets and the sentry all backed away from. No doubt the light energy that Raxtus had exerted was harmful to all of them.

"Watch it!" screamed Xipp, as he and the others narrowly escaped the energy attack.

"There's more where that came from, if you dare follow us," said Raxtus, as he stepped backwards and passed through the portal in reverse.


	17. The Barrier

**Chapter 17: The Barrier**

The moment that Raxtus, who was invisibly carrying Kendra and Warren on his back, had stepped backwards through the portal and arrived in the yard at Fablehaven, Bright then used her magic to shut the portal.

Kendra took in a breath of relief. Had the portal been open even just a few more seconds, she feared that the adlets or their sentry accomplice would've come charging through it and onto the grounds of Fablehaven.

"You're all here, aren't you?" asked Bright. "Raxtus? Kendra? Warren?

Remembering that she was still invisible, Kendra proceeded to remove the magical glove that she was wearing. As she slid it off her hand, her body came back into view.

Likewise, Kendra could see Raxtus becoming visible again. And although he was sitting behind her, Kendra could sense Warren removing the other glove from his hand.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here," said Warren, as he jumped from from atop Raxtus' back. Following her cousin's lead, Kendra jumped down as well, and landed next to where Bright and Warren were both standing.

Lying down on the grass before them was Seth, who was apparently still sound asleep. Kendra proceeded to kneel down and rubbed Seth's forehead with her hand.

"What's wrong with Seth?" asked Kendra.

"Either your brother is the world's heaviest sleeper," replied Bright, "or he's under some kind of magical spell."

"Can you counter it?" asked Raxtus.

"Perhaps. It was likely cast upon him using dark magic, but it shouldn't be out of my league to remove it. Let's get him in the house, first. The grass is pretty moist from all the dew."

Bright waved her hand, allowing some rainbow sparkles to shoot out. The sparkles wrapped themselves around Seth's sleeping body, levitating him a few feet above the ground again. Bright then walked back towards the house, magically directing Seth to travel alongside her. Kendra, Warren and Raxtus all followed Bright.

Soon Bright had reached the front porch of the house, where she used her magic to unlock the door.

"Thank you so much for your help, Raxtus" said Kendra.

"Not a problem," replied the fairy dragon. "Although, I wasn't _too _thrilled about getting up so early in the morning. I wanted to sleep in a bit with my new children."

"We owe you one," said Warren, as he made his way into the house, along with Kendra, Bright and Seth.

"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Grandpa, who had just entered the front hallway, along with the rest of the family. "You found Seth!"

"That honestly didn't take long," said Ingrid. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Is it really Seth?" asked Grandma. "And not a decoy?"

"Everybody relax," said Bright, as she levitated Seth's body into the living room and set him down on a couch in a lying position.

"We found Seth in the dungeon of Murdred's castle," said Kendra.

"You should've seen it," said Warren. "We were invisible, so we were able to get the drop on the monsters that were down there! I gotta say, these relics are really handy to have!"

"In all this commotion," said Kendra, "we never even considered if this really is Seth or not."

"Why won't he wake up?" asked Mrs. Sorenson.

"Everybody... **quiet**!" shouted Bright, prompting everybody else in the room to cease talking. "Thank you. You folks are correct, though. This may or may not be Seth. We honestly aren't sure. And he's asleep due to a magic spell. I'm going to examine him now to see how he is."

Bright's hands suddenly started to glow in a vibrant, rainbow-colored hue. She then ran her glowing hands up and down over Seth's body.

"Energy readings are normal," said Bright. "For a shadow charmer, that is. This seems to be the real deal here."

Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson both breathed a sigh of relief.

"I had a feeling this was the real Seth," said Warren. "Why else would Xipp, Xeero and Xillch all be in the dungeon guarding him? And with one of them inside the cell with Seth as well?"

"If this _isn't _the real Seth," said Bright, "then Murdred or Helwic have really done their homework. Seth here is just under a sleeping spell. I'll remove it right away."

Kendra waved her hands in the air above Seth. More magical sparkles rained down from her hands and fell onto Seth. By the time Bright had stopped, Seth's entire body was glowing in all the colors of the rainbow.

A moment later, the glow that Seth was exerting had died down completely. Seth then let out a loud yawn, shook his head around, and opened his eyes.

"Seth!" exclaimed Mrs. Sorenson. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" yawned Seth, startled to see that he was back home at Fablehaven. "How'd I get down here?"

"You were in the Demon Domain!" exclaimed Grandma.

"The Demon Domain?" asked Seth. "How'd you know. Must've been a nightmare. It felt so real, though."

"No, we mean you really _were_ in the Demon Domain!" exclaimed Kendra.

"But, how?" asked Seth. "I mean, if what I remember happening actually happened, then it's because Helwic was waiting for me outside the main gate. She was able to use her power to take control of me from afar and directed me off the property."

"What?" exclaimed Grandpa. "But how?"

"I don't know!" gasped Seth. "Helwic then took me to the Demon Domain, and explained that Murdred was still interested in me. They even forced me to drink that elixir that turned me evil like before. But it didn't work!"

"Are you sure about this?" asked Grandma.

"I think so," said Seth. "If you found me in the Demon Domain, then all of this probably _did_ happen."

"Why would the elixir not work?" asked Clover. "Not that I'm complaining, or anything."

"Don't ask me," said Seth. "But, because it didn't work, Helwic exposed me to a fairy, I think it was to test something."

"A fairy?" asked Grandma. "You mean a normal, light energy-fuelled fairy?"

"Yeah," said Seth." I think they keep fairies prisoners in the basement. Not in the dungeon, though."

"Fairy prisoners?" gasped Kendra. "That's horrible. But.. how could they even survive the harshness of the Demon Domain?"

"If there are fairies in the castle," said Dale, "perhaps they use some sort of magic to keep them contained. Possibly like a closed ecological system, from which the fairies cannot escape."

"What did they do with the fairy?" asked Grandpa.

"Well, when the fairy didn't react to me... Murdred... killed it. Out of sheer outrage too."

"Killed it?" gasped Bright. "Poor thing."

"I couldn't stop him," said Seth. "I tried. But I failed. He just touched it, and it died. Next thing I knew, I was fast asleep. Then I just woke up right here."

"We'll tell you our side of the story," said Kendra, starting off by telling Seth how Dale heard from Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod about Seth's run-in with Dancer and Prancer. She then went on to explain how they travelled into the Demon Domain, found Murdred' castle, made their way into the dungeon and rescued Seth from the adlets.

"I can't believe you found me," said Seth. "And that you found your way to the castle so easily."

"We kinda got lucky," said Warren. "Bright was able to sense the castle from afar."

"Look, the important thing is that we have Seth back," said Ingrid. "Safe and sound."

"Seth may be back with us," said Grandma. "But I wouldn't go as far to say _safe and sound_."

"Why not?"

"If Helwic was able to assume control over Seth the way that she did with relative ease," said Clover, "what's to stop her from returning in the future and pulling the same stint again?"

Seth shuddered. "I really don't want _that_ happening again."

"Maybe there's some protective spell you fairies can place on Seth?" asked Kendra.

"A spell to block out external dark magic using light magic?" replied Bright. "I wouldn't want to mess with that. Especially on a shadow charmer of all people. It could end up hurting Seth more than it might help."

"Let's go back a second," said Kendra. "Why exactly did the elixir not have any effect on Seth?"

"Hard to say," replied Bright. "We don't have any of the stuff to analyze. But, ever since we defeated Murdred, fairies have no longer been averting Seth. It's as though the darkness within in has been neutralized."

"Then why was Helwic able to assume control of me?" asked Seth.

"If I were to harbor a guess," said Clover, "it's because the elixir is simply that. A formula. A potent formula, but a formula nonetheless. Helwic personally seized control over Seth, and he was unable to resist it."

"Look, I may be safe from the formula, but what about my well being? What am I supposed to do if Helwic comes back for me?"

"Station a lookout?" asked Warren.

"Too unreliable," said Grandpa. "Fablehaven is a large place, and we can't possibly oversee every area of the perimeter. If Helwic slips in through the cracks somewhere, she could still control Seth."

"Maybe I'll have to leave Fablehaven," said Seth, wondering where exactly he could go where he'd be safe from Helwic.

"There's always the dungeon," said Dale. "We'd furnish your cell nicely and only lock you in at night."

"I am _not_ moving from my room to the dungeon!" exclaimed Seth.

"I know what we could do!" exclaimed Bright. "All we have to do is erect a shield of light energy around the perimeter of the preserve. That should block out dark energy from bypassing the barrier."

"How's that supposed to work?" asked Ingrid. "I thought this place already has a magical barrier. What's the difference?"

"I get what Bright is saying," said Grandpa. "Fablehaven is protected by a powerful distractor spell. This makes it impossible for unwanted creatures and personnel from travelling on and off of the property. However, Helwic's power was able to bypass the barrier, because negafae power is not an organic creature."

"And the barrier is still functioning properly," said Clover. "I checked it while you guys were in the Demon Domain. So Helwic presumably didn't meddle with it."

"Well then," said Bright. "If we do enhance the barrier with light energy, it should theoretically prevent dark energy, be it from Helwic or whomever, from passing through into Fablehaven."

"So, what's stopping you already?" asked Seth. "Go power up the barrier already."

"Take it easy," said Clover. "The barrier surrounding Fablehaven is very powerful. We'd need some additional help in safeguarding it with light energy."

"How much help?" asked Ingrid.

"We'll need the help of some more fairy angels," said Bright. "Mind you, this sort of thing isn't something I've ever dealt with personally, but in theory, it should work."

"I'm going to head over to the Fairy Kingdom and ask my kin if they'll agree to help," said Clover. "I'll be back in a bit."

Clover then got up, left the living room, then made her way out through the front door.

For the next little while, everybody got washed up and properly groomed. Dale then headed out into the yard to continue with doing his chores. By the time they were all finished, the sun had risen a fair bit above the eastern horizon.

Before long, a knocking came from the front door. Everybody made their way into the front hall, just as Grandma opened the door. Standing on the other side was Clover, along with Bracken, Brillia, Bravia, Brook, Opal and Tiara.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Seth. "That's quite a crowd you've gathered!"

Everybody then exchanged greetings with each other.

"Clover explained your predicament to us," said Brillia, gesturing for everybody to follow her outside.

"Here's what I don't get," said Ingrid, as they all stepped out onto the front porch. "Why not just go back to the Demon Domain and destroy Helwic and Murdred? Then you wouldn't have to enhance the barrier."

"Well, for one thing, that's easier said than done," said Bravia.

"Enhancing the barrier, however," said Brook, "that' something we're more than capable of."

"Also," noted Tiara, "it would protect Fablehaven from all dark energy, not just Helwic's doing."

"So," said Grandpa. "How exactly would this enhancement even work?"

"Well, the heart of Fablehaven is the house right here," replied Brillia. "So naturally, this is the ideal spot for casting our enchantment. Even though it's intended for the perimeter, it's best that we go about doing it here. That way, it can spread throughout the preserve from its heart."

"I get it," said Kendra. "It's like how an organic heart pumps blood through one's body."

"More or less," said Opal.

"Okay then," said Brillia, "this is going to take everything we've got. Fairy angels! Let us all hold hands.

At that moment, Brillia, Bravia, Brook, Bright, Bracken, Clover, Tiara and Opal all gathered around in a large circle and grasped their hands together. They then proceeded to fly up into the air and soared over the roof of the house.

Next, all of the fairies began to glow in a hue of rainbow colors. The glow grew so intense, that it engulfed the entire circle of fairies. Eventually, the massive rainbow glow formed a star-shaped formation.

"Cool!" said Ingrid.

"Why does that look so familiar?" asked Seth, able to recall seeing the star before, despite never witness such a spectacle.

"A rainbow star?" asked Kendra. "Of course! It's the same symbol that's been on the entrances to those vaults we've been to."

"Yeah," said Warren. "It's a seal created by fairies, which only they have the power to penetrate!"

At that point, numerous rainbows began to burst out of the star in almost every direction, shooting off to the various ends of the preserve. The vibrant beams of light were so intense, they nearly blinded everyone who was staring at them.

Eventually, the rainbows faded away, along with the star that the fairies had produced. The fairies then flew back down and landed on the lawn near the rest of the group, then dispersed from their circle.

Brillia stopped to catch her breath. Along with the other fairies, she appeared to be slightly worn-out from casting the enchantment.

"That was awesome!" said Seth. "You guys should come back for the Fourth of July!"

"It is done," said Brillia. "But, rest assured, what we have accomplished has taken a lot out of us."

"So, the preserve is now protected against darkness?" asked Grandma."

"Only externally," replied Tiara. "If a creature of darkness were to somehow find its way onto the preserve, say by... wrongly being granted entry, it could still utilize its dark energy from within."

"Are you sure that the barrier will really block out dark magic?" asked Seth. "I mean, I really don't want this sort of thing to happen again."

"Unfortunately, we have no real way of testing this on our own," replied Brook. "You see, none of us fairies can use dark magic."

"I can," said Seth. "Sort of. But I don't have the power to radiate darkness within the preserve. Nor would I want you."

"Nobody's asking you to test it," said Brillia. "Don't worry."

"I'm not that worried anymore," said Seth. "Besides, I don't think Murdred is even all that interested in me anymore."

Ingrid squinted her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"When he and Helwic deduced that I was no longer viable for his intentions, he threw me in the dungeon. Not just as punishment, but because I he needed someone else who could be of use to him."

"Like who?" asked Kendra.

Seth scratched his head. "I dunno. It's not like there's any other shadow charmers out there. Except for the Sphinx, but he's securely locked up at Living Mirage."

"Oh no," said Brillia. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"What do you mean?" asked Bracken, placing a hand on his eldest sister's shoulder.

"Murdred. He was once an ordinary person once, yes?"

"Oh yeah," said Seth. "A horribly misguided person. But nothing exceptional. However, he was so evil, he drew the attention of Helwic from the Demon Domain. And from there, he served as Gorgrog's disciple."

"Even though he was normal to begin with..." said Grandpa. "Upon migrating to the Demon Domain to live with Gorgrog, Damien Dukes transformed from a human being into the demonic monstrosity that he is today."

"So what you're saying is..." said Kendra. "Is that history could very well repeat itself?"

Brillia nodded. "If Murdred is desperate enough, he'll do what Gorgrog previously did in the past. If he cannot make use of Seth, he will send Helwic into our world to search for another being with a heart just as dark and corrupt as his own."

"Why not just enlist some monster from the Demon Domain for this sort of thing?" asked Ingrid.

"To prove himself," said Warren. "Murdred wasn't born into his current position. He forced his way to the top. That separates him from other demons, putting him into a league of his own. And if Brillia's theory is to be believed, then Helwic might searching for a new disciple at this very moment."

Grandpa shook his head. "And what it Murdred intends on doing with this new disciple what he tried to do with Seth, and increases his power?"

"He might become unstoppable!" exclaimed Clover.

"But you fairies improved the barrier around Fablehaven," said Seth. "So there's no way for him to come after us!"

"He could still devastate the rest of the world," said Bracken. "And as strong as our magic is, it isn't insurmountable. If Murdred really can raise his power to unparallelled levels, even the barrier might not be enough to stop him."

"I think the best course of action now," said Grandma, "would be to make another trip back into the Demon Domain and see to it that Murdred is unable to carry out his plan any further."


	18. Fly or Fry

**Chapter 18: Fly or Fry**

Having enhanced the barrier that surrounded Fablehaven, the group of fairies had nearly exhausted their power, and were starting to look fairy weary.

"We've got to get going to the Demon Domain so that we can stop Murdred as soon as possible!" said Kendra, looking around at her family and the fairies who were all standing outside the house alongside her.

"We'd love to help you," said Bright. "But we don't have all that much energy left within us. If we open a portal into the Demon Domain, we may not have the power to open another portal back home."

"But we can't just wait around like this!" exclaimed Seth. "The longer we take, the more time we're giving Murdred to accomplish his goal!"

"Perhaps we can help," said Brillia. "Between all of us, we fairies must have a sufficient amount of energy for a few recruits. The rest of us could share our power with them."

"I'll go," said Bracken.

"Count me in," said Bright.

"Me too," said Clover.

"That should be enough," said Brillia. "I don't think the rest of us can spare any more power. You three, stand together."

Bracken, Bright and Clover all stood next to each other in front of the rest of the group. Brillia, Bravia, Brook, Tiara and Opal all gathered in a circle around the other three and held their hands together.

"Wait!" cried Larissa, as she flew up to the gathering of fairies, along with Passion and Goldenrod. "We want to help too!"

Suddenly, energy started flowing out of the bodies of the five fairies in the circle, and into the three that were in the middle. The energies blended together into a myriad of different colors, as the were absorbed by Bracken, Bright and Clover. Floating next to the circle, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod were also exerting their energy out to the fairies in the middle.

After a moment, the energy flows all came to a stop. The five fairies who were standing in the circle then lost their balance and fell down to their knees. At the same time, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all fell to the ground.

"Fairies!" gasped Kendra, looking at the eight who had fallen before them. "Are you okay?"

"We're... alive," gasped Opal, who appeared to look rather flush, as did the other fairies.

"We'll be okay," said Brook. "We're just... tired."

"On the plus side," said Bracken, "I feel totally rejuvenated."

Bright nodded. "As do I. The three of us owe our kin a whole lot for what they've done."

"Will you fairies be okay?" asked Ingrid.

"Nothing a nice rest won't fix," replied Bravia, as she and the other fairies all pushed themselves to stand up. "I think we should all return to the Fairy Kingdom to recover."

Everyone bid the exhausted fairies goodbye as they proceeded to walk in the direction of the naiad's pond.

"We owe them one," said Clover. "And we'll do it by completing our mission! They're counting on us."

"So who here is heading to the Demon Domain?" asked Grandpa. "Besides these three fairies, that is."

"Of course I'll go," said Seth, holding up his hand.

"Me too," said Kendra.

"I'm in," added Warren.

"I want... to go," said Ingrid, drawing looks from the entire group.

"What?" exclaimed Mr. Sorenson.

"Ingrid," said Mrs. Sorenson. "You can't be serious. The Demon Domain is highly dangerous."

"I know," said Ingrid. "But I don't care. I want to help."

"Your parents have a point," said Warren. "You have no sufficient training for this sort of adventure."

"There's no better time to learn," said Ingrid, crossing her arms. "I lived on the streets by myself for years, and there were plenty of crazy people out there with me. I think I can handle the worst of the Demon Domain."

"Ingrid, this isn't what you think," said Bracken. "The worst of the mortal world is nothing compared to what the Demon Domain has to offer.

"Please," said Ingrid. "I'd be with all of you guys anyway. I want to help, and this mission intrigues me. Besides, I've heard of all those crazy misadventures Seth has gone on by breaking the rules."

Seth blushed, then looked over at Ingrid. She reminded him of a less experienced, but equally eager version of himself.

Warren looked at Ingrid, then turned his head towards Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson. "She's _your_ child."

Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson looked at each other for a moment, then at Ingrid.

"Okay," said Mr. Sorenson, sounding hesitant with his decision. "Under the condition that someone is watching her back at all times."

"Really?" exclaimed Ingrid, her eyes now lit up. "Oh, thank you!"

"Scott, are you sure about this?" asked Grandpa.

"Now all we need is some support," said Seth. "I'm thinking something along the lines of dragon power."

"I think I read your mind like a book," said Dale who was walking towards the group from around the back of the house. Following close behind him were Raxtus, Geminus, Skyfrost and Firesquall. Geminus was also carrying Vanessa in her arms.

"All right!" exclaimed Seth, clenching his fists in excitement.

"Dale told us all about what needs to be done," said Raxtus. "And we'd be happy to help. All of us!"

"This sounds cool," said Skyfrost. "We're gonna kick some demon butt!"

"I want to ride you, Skyfrost!" said Seth, running up towards the blue wyvern.

"How are you and Firesquall enjoying Fablehaven so far?" asked Grandma.

"It's pretty hectic," replied Firesquall. "Even when Revlogg was around, things were never this intense."

"Usually, it's a lot more peaceful around here," said Kendra, holding out her hands.

Seth proceeded to climb up onto Skyfrost's backside. "Come on!" said Seth. "Let's get moving!"

"Take it easy," said Mr. Sorenson. "You guys aren't even fully prepared for this adventure now, are you?"

"I guess not," said Seth, allowing himself to drop down from atop Skyfrost's backside. "We'll be right back!"

The family then made their way back into the house and packed up their gear. Once they were fully packed and equipped, they went back outside and reunited with the dragons.

"Please look after Vanessa while we're gone, Dale," said Geminus, handing her baby over to Dale.

"She's in good hands," said Dale, accepting Vanessa. "She loves spending time with her Uncle Dale."

Vanessa's face lit up and she let out a giggle as Dale slowly cradled her around in his arms.

"Kendra, would you like to ride with me?" asked Raxtus.

"I'd love to," said Kendra, as she walked over to Raxtus, who bent down, allowing her to climb up onto his back.

"I claimed Skyfrost!" shouted Seth, as he ran back over to the wyvern and scrambled to climb back up onto him. "You all heard me!"

"I'd love to go for a ride on you, Firesquall," said Warren, displaying a guilty grin, as he approached the green wyvern.

"Guess we're all good to go," said Raxtus. "We're not forgetting anything, are we?"

"Yes you are," said Ingrid, glaring up at Raxtus.

"Um, what's that?" asked Skyfrost.

"Me!"

"Really?" asked Raxtus. "You want to come with us too?"

"It's okay, Raxtus," said Grandpa. "We discussed the situation earlier. She's coming too. Ingrid, why don't you ride on Geminus. She's a very sweet dragon, who as you know, was once a fairy."

"Okay!" said Ingrid, as she darted over next to Geminus, then proceeded to climb onto her backside.

"It's actually quite beneficial that you're riding atop Geminus," said Bright. "She can use her defensive magic ability to protect you from danger."

"She can do that?" asked Ingrid.

"Sure I can," said Geminus. "But, I'd rather not want to get into a situation where I have to demonstrate it, if you don't mind."

"Don't worry," said Grandma. "I think you two are going to get along just fine."

Ingrid and Geminus then looked each other directly in their face, and they both smiled.

"Great," said Raxtus proudly. Is everybody ready?"

The other dragons, as well as their human riders, all replied with a loud "Yes".

"Okay then," said Seth. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"Right," said Bright, as she walked to the front of the group. "I'll just open the portal for you."

"This will just transport us to a random location in the Demon Domain, correct?" asked Ingrid.

"Unfortunately," replied Bracken. "Our magic isn't really compatible with the environment of the Demon Domain, so it's impossible for us to pinpoint the location of where our portals leading in there will end up."

"All we can do is take a shot with a random portal and hope for the best," said Warren.

"Well that's... assuring," said Ingrid.

"Here goes nothing," said Bright, as she used her magic to conjure up a portal before the group.

"Good luck, all of you!" said Grandma, as everybody proceeded to say their goodbyes to each other.

"Take care of Ingrid, Geminus," said Mrs. Sorenson. "This is her first real adventure, after all!"

The dragons proceeded to enter the portal, passing through from the tranquil surroundings of the Fablehaven preserve, to a ghastly clifftop somewhere in the Demon Domain.

Once the fairies had followed through after them, Bright then used her magic to shut the portal that they came through. She and Bracken then transformed into their unicorn forms.

Ingrid then gazed down from atop the cliff they were standing on, surveying the gloomy land that was situated beneath them. From what Kendra and Seth could see, there were numerous other mountains, surrounded mostly by rivers of lava. The usual red sky of the Demon Domain provided a backdrop, as did the grey clouds that populated it.

"Just scenery of this place is even more terrifying than what I saw the last time I was here," said Ingrid.

"Most of what you saw then was part of Murdred's castle," said Seth. "And believe me, that place is where the worst of the worst happens."

"I agree with Ingrid," said Firesquall. "Even I don't like the looks of this place very much."

"Look, if anybody wants out, don't feel ashamed. We can open a portal back to Fablehaven at any time. In fact, now's the best time to do so, instead of when we're actually being confronted by monsters."

"Firesquall only said it _looked_ creepy," said Skyfrost. "He never said nothing about wanting to leave."

Firesquall nodded in agreement.

"But you're a fire-breathing wyvern!" said Seth. "I thought you'd be right at home in a menacing place such as this."

"Just because he has fire powers, it doesn't mean a wyvern like Firesquall is inherently a creature of darkness," said Bracken.

"Well, in case you were wondering, Bracken, I'm staying with you guys," said Ingrid.

Of course you're gonna stay with us," said Seth. "I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy to be stranded in a place like this."

"Even if you did," said Kendra, "it wouldn't do too much to someone like Murdred."

"Well, we might as well start exploring," said Warren.

"Okay," said Bright. "The three of us are going to hide ourselves to conserve energy."

Bright, Bracken and Clover suddenly all vanished, leaving behind clouds of sparkles.

"So Raxtus," said Geminus. "We don't have any real indicator as to where Murdred's castle might be from this point?"

"Not really," replied Raxtus. "Bright was able to find it before by sensing for it with her magic as I flew around, so I guess we'll just do the same thing this time.

Raxtus then flew off into the air with Kendra, prompting Geminus, Skyfrost and Firesquall to fly after him with their riders.

"You know what," said Skyfrost, "this is our first real flight together as a family."

"I'm sorry it couldn't be in a more _pleasant _environment," said Geminus.

"Me too," said Ingrid. "If the atmosphere here wasn't so dark and depressing, I might actually be enjoying myself."

Kendra looked down at the Demon Domain as they soared across the land. This was actually the first real time she had been able to see the realm from a bird's eye view. As the group flew high over a lake of lava, Kendra tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if she were to somehow slip off of Raxtus' back and plunged into the molten rock beneath her.

After flying for a short while, a large figure rose up into the sky, not too far in the distance from where the group currently was.

"Uh, what is that thing?" asked Ingrid, as the figure loomed closer. From what Kendra could tell, it seemed to resemble a enormous caterpillar with wings. Not a butterfly, but a fifty-foot caterpillar with large, bat-like wings. Its red skin also sported a red and yellow pattern.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Warren, "but it's coming right for us!"

The caterpillar soared directly towards the group, and spewed some white gunk out of its mouth at the group, all of whom flew out of the way.

"We can't out-fly it," said Raxtus. "It's too fast!"

"It's not too fast for us," said Firesquall. "Skyfrost and I could evade it!"

"What's with this stupid gunk?" asked Seth, as he and Firesquall narrowly evaded an incoming shot.

"I don't know!" cried Raxtus. "But we need to deal with this thing now!"

Kendra looked down and saw that they were flying over another lake of lava.

"Ah!" screamed Geminus. "It got me!"

Kendra and Seth looked over at Geminus, as saw that her wings were now stuck together in their uppermost position by a wad of the caterpillar's white gunk. She was now losing altitude as she plunged downwards towards the lava with Ingrid on her back.

"HELP!" screamed Ingrid as Raxtus soared down towards the falling dragon, with Kendra holding onto his back as tightly as she could. Raxtus swooped under Geminus and broke her her fall with his claws. However, Geminus was still unable to flap her wings, and Raxtus was struggling to keep both of them afloat over the lava pool beneath them by flapping his wings like a madman.

"You're too heavy," muttered Raxtus. "I can't carry you!"

"Help me!" screamed Ingrid.

"Me too," muttered Kendra, worried that she would slip off of Raxtus at any moment.

"We gotta help them!" exclaimed Seth, "But I can't use my power up here. It might harm the wyverns!"

"That does it!" snarled Skyfrost, as he opened his mouth and proceeded to blast the caterpillar with his ice breath. The caterpillar retaliated by attempting to shoot him with more silky gunk from its mouth.

"Leave my brother alone!" snapped Firesquall, as he unleashed a wave of fire from his mouth, instantly burning the gunk to a crisp.

"Skyfrost," said Seth. "Try freezing the caterpillar's wings! Firesquall, try to keep him distracted!"

Firesquall proceeded to pelt the caterpillar with several fireballs, drawing the monster's attention. It proceeded to shoot more gunk at him, which the green wyvern managed to burn up with his fire power.

Meanwhile, Skyfrost flew down across the backside of the caterpillar, and proceeded to quickly coat the enormous insect's wings under a thick layer of ice.

Suddenly, with its wings rendered immobile, the caterpillar began to plummet downwards. Thanks to its incredible mass, the caterpillar plunged down and landed in the pool of lava. It made a tremendous splash in the melted rock, which quickly engulfed its whole body.

Skyfrost and Firesquall then flew down to where Raxtus was struggling to keep Geminus up in the air. The two wyverns swooped down and with amazing precision, each of them grasped one of the pink fairy dragon's arms in their talons.

"We gotcha, Mom!" said Firesquall, as the wyverns proceeded to tow Geminus through the air, along with a terrified-looking Ingrid.

With the burden of Geminus' weight no longer holding him down, Raxtus was free to fly off after the others. Once the wyverns reached the other side of the lava lake, they soared down and landed on a safe area of dry land, where they placed Geminus down on the ground.

"Oh my god," said Ingrid, stopping to catch her breath. "We came so close to dying."

"Are you guys okay?" asked Seth.

"We're both alive," said Ingrid. "I'm grateful. Thank you all."

"You guys were amazing," said Raxtus, as he came to a landing nearby.

"My wings are still stuck," said Geminus, unable to move her wings around, due to them still being stuck in a wad of gunk.

"I'll get that," said Firesquall, as he let out a blast of fire, burning away the entirety of the gunk.

"That's better," said Geminus, as she proceeded to slowly flap her wings up and down. "I'm so sorry about that, Ingrid."

"It wasn't your fault," said Ingrid.

"Look at it this way," said Warren. "The more perilous situations you find yourself facing, the more courage you'll ultimately build up."

"But I could've been killed!" exclaimed Ingrid. "I nearly died!"

"That's the spirit," said Warren.

"Well, it's unfortunate that your first real adventure got off to such a harsh start," said Kendra.

"There's a lot about this world that we still don't know about," said Seth. "That giant caterpillar monster being one of those things."

"It probably wasn't wise to fly directly over a lava lake either" said Raxtus. "That was my fault. I'm just so used to flying in a straight line when I'm not under any pressure."

"Everybody relax," said Geminus. "No need to get worked up any more than we already are. The worst is over now."

"Hardly," said Warren. "There's still the pressing matter of trying to locate Murdred's castle. It could be anywhere."

"Before we landed," said Skyfrost, "I noticed something in the distance. Let me go check!"

With Seth still on his back, Skyfrost then bolted back up into the air.

"Calm down!" cried Seth. "No need to get excited!"

"You see it?" asked Skyfrost, as he came to a stop in midair. "About a mile or so away, at around eleven o'clock."

Seth looked ahead, slightly to the left, and saw what Skyfrost had pointed out. Murdred's castle was looming on the horizon in the distance.


	19. Dawning of Disaster

**Chapter 19: Dawning of Disaster**

"Is everybody okay now?" asked Warren, once everybody in the group had managed to catch their breath due to all the recent commotion.

"I think so," said Ingrid, while everybody else nodded in response.

"So the castle's right over there?" asked Firesquall. "No kidding? That sure wasn't hard to find."

"Well, it's not so hard to find the castle when you're flying around in the air," said Seth, "as opposed to when you're traversing the Demon Domain by foot."

"But there's a reason why we haven't flown around much in the past," said Kendra. "We're a lot more likely to be spotted, especially from a distance. Why else would that giant caterpillar thing have come after us?"

"Still, we did kind of get lucky," noted Seth. "You must have a good eye, Skyfrost."

"It doesn't surprise me," said Raxtus. "Wyverns are better suited for flying than most typical dragons, and possess sharp eagle-like eyes. It's no wonder he was able to spot the castle so easily from this distance."

"Well, what are we waiting for, standing around here?" asked Seth. "We've got to continue onward to the castle so we can stop Murdred but good!"

With their human companions seated on their backsides, the fairy dragons and the wyverns proceeded to flap their wings and took off into the air, soaring in the direction where Murdred's castle had been spotted.

Before long, Kendra and Seth could see the castle appearing in the distance as they continued soaring over the gnarled terrain of the demon domain. Before long, the castle was now only several acres from their current position.

"Nobody fly too close," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to decrease his speed. "There's a force field protecting the castle, and they'll find out if somebody's made contact with it."

"We found that out the hard way on our previous visit," said Seth, as Raxtus descended down towards the ground, prompting the other dragons to follow his lead.

Raxtus came a landing close to the moat that surrounded Murdred's castle, and the other dragons did so as well. They were situated fairly close enough to the edge of the moat, that if they were to walk a bit further, they could look down partway into the chasm that stood between their side and the castle.

"How do we get inside this place?" asked Ingrid.

"The only we we know of is through the front door," replied Raxtus. "But there's a sentry standing guard."

"Could we sneak by it?" asked Ingrid. "Possibly by using the invisibility gloves? Even if we took turns?"

"It's still too risky," replied Warren. "Besides, the gloves won't fit Firesquall or Skyfrost."

"What are you all afraid of?" asked Seth. "That sentry doesn't seem too tough! I've gotten past him every single time!"

"Are you saying we should put him on ice?" asked Skyfrost.

"Sure am! There's only one of him. Plus he's not very big, and doesn't even look tough. We've got no reason to be afraid!"

Firesquall laughed. "I guess he's toast!"

"Well, we've never really had the upper hand against that guard before," said Warren. "It's be fun to tango with him for once."

"I think the entrance to the castle is around on the other side somewhere," said Seth, prompting Skyfrost to dash around the castle with him on his back, keeping a fair distance from the moat. The other dragons and their riders followed their lead, until they came around to end of the bridge that spanned over the moat and connected to the front doors on the other side.

Surely enough, standing next to the doors on the far side of the bridge was the warthog-like sentry who regularly stood guard at this position. The sentry was quick to notice Seth and Skyfrost staring at him from across the bridge. However, before he could so much as reach to their presence, the rest of Seth's allies all lined up next to him.

"What are we waiting around here for?" asked Warren. "Forward ho!"

The four dragons proceeded to scurry across the bridge. Before they could reach the other side, the sentry stood in front of the center of the two doors, flailing his arms in the air.

"Stop!" cried the guard.

"What'd he say?" asked Kendra.

"He said STOP!" cried Seth, prompting all of the dragons to come to a stop no more than a yard or so away from the sentry.

"Hold your fire," said Warren. "Or your ice."

"It's probably a trap," said Kendra.

"Yeah, why should we listen to him?" asked Ingrid.

"I don't want to mess with all of you!" exclaimed the sentry.

"Then let us pass," said Seth.

"I can't just shirk on my duty, said the sentry. "But eight against one's not fair! See ya!"

The sentry suddenly opened one of the doors a crack, slipped inside, and slammed it behind himself.

"Where'd he go?" asked Ingrid.

"Probably to tattle on us to Murdred," said Seth. "After him!"

Raxtus continued over to the doors and proceeded to pull one of them open partway, revealing a way into the front hall of the castle. "Bet he was so scared, he forgot to lock the door."

"Bet not," said Warren, as the group passed through the door and into the front hallway of the castle. They were just in time to catch the sentry as he was running up the grand stairway, heading towards the second floor.

"Oh no," said said the sentry, as he stopped and turned around at the group, just shy of the top of the stairs.

"Hello there," said Murdred, as he walked over towards the top of the stairway near where the sentry had stopped. He had previously been out of view until now.

"Murdred!" gasped Kendra.

"So Seth," said Murdred, "I see that you've returned, and you've brought along a bunch of your friends. Some of these faces are new to me, but the one that I find truly repulsing is the one you call your sister."

"We're here to stop you!" blared Seth.

Murdred scoffed. "You think you can stop me? You are useless to me now! You don't stand a chance! Get them, my followers!"

At that moment, an assortment of demons entered the front hall, either by jumping down from a higher level, or by stepping in from an adjoining hallway. They all resembled various predatory or aggressive animals, or at least hybrids thereof. The only one that anybody recognized was the rhinoceros sentry who normally guarded the dungeon.

"Trouble, guys," said Warren, as the dozen or so troops that had made their entrance began marching up towards the group, claws held high and mouths open wide, ready to pounce on the group of intruders.

"Geminus, do something!" gasped Ingrid, as a monster that resembled a blue velociraptor with tentacles for arms approached the two of them!"

"He can't hurt us!" exclaimed Geminus, as she encased both herself and Ingrid in a vibrant pink glow.

The monster then wrapped its tentacles around Geminus and proceeded to lift her up into the air with Ingrid holding on to her back.

"Help!" shrieked Ingrid.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group found themselves confronted by the other monsters. Skyfrost and Firesquall had been warding off the ones that got near with their ice and fire attacks.

"Ingrid!" gasped Kendra, as a monster that resembled a hippopotamus with nails like sickles lunged at her and Raxtus, which they barely dodged.

"There's too many monsters!" exclaimed Warren, as he and Firesquall were surrounded by three of them, none of whom appeared to be phased by Firesquall's breath attack.

"Yeah, and I can't freeze them all at this rate!" exclaimed Skyfrost.

"And some of these guys are fireproof to boot!" moaned Firesquall.

"Let's see if they're waterproof!" snapped Warren, as he whipped out the Sapphazure. Without hesitation, a blast of water shot out of the relic and crashed into one of the surrounding monsters, the impact of which sent it flying across the room and into a wall.

"Let me try!" said Kendra, who then pulled the Emerock out of her bag. She focused it on the wall next to where the monster who was holding onto Geminus was. He was apparently trying to weaken her with the suction cups on his tentacles, but getting nowhere due to Geminus' resistant magic.

A section of the wall came jutting out from several feet above the monster's head. The chunk of bricks then fell down and smashed onto the monster, prompting him to scream in pain, as he released Geminus from his grasp.

"Oh my god," said Ingrid. "That was so close."

By this point, most of the monsters had been either scorched, frozen, crushed or brutally wounded. Only three unscathed monsters remained. They then looked at one another and bolted out of the hall in fear.

"Cowards!" yelled Murdred. "Don't let their flashy powers intimidate you! Get them! Especially that _pink_ dragon. I _hate _pink."

"Looks like we're more than your troops can handle," said Seth.

"So you fools still stand," said Murdred. "I suppose I underestimated your potential. But it matters not. At any moment, Helwic will be bringing me my new disciple. And there's not a thing you can do now to stop us."

"Oh no," said Ingrid. "He's really going through with this whole thing."

"We can't let you hurt any more innocent people!" cried Geminus. "Seth told you about what you did with that fairy!"

"That fairy is nothing in comparison to what I have planned."

"Raxtus," said Geminus. "Attack!"

Geminus then opened her mouth and exhaled a stream of white, fire-like energy towards Murdred. As it reached the top of the stairs, it stopped, as though it had hit an invisible wall. Raxtus joined in with his own energy blast, but it too got no further.

"Did you really think I would just wait around without protection?" asked Murdred, as the dragons gave up on their attack. "My negafae have set up a force field in anticipation of your arrival."

Several small, fairy-like beings flew around by Murdred's side. Although they were too distant to see, they were emitting glows of darkness. Kendra assumed they were like smaller versions of Helwic or Demoric, and not actual fairies.

"Great," said Seth. "What do we do now?"

"We cannot give up!" said Bright, as she appeared in her unicorn form, along with Bracken. Clover joined them as well. "Let's try this together!"

Bright and Bracken proceeded to shoot spiralling rainbow beams from their horns at Murdred, while Clover exerted a stream of green energy from her hands. Raxtus and Geminus then shot more energy out as well. However, their combined power still wasn't enough to penetrate the barrier.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked Murdred, once the fairies ceased their attack.

"Let me try!" said Firesquall.

"No!" exclaimed Raxtus. "Our fire and your fire are two separate things!"

"And if we get too close, those negafae will stop us," said Clover. "They have too much of an advantage in their homeworld, even against fairy angels like ourselves."

"What do we have here?" asked Helwic, whose voice was coming from several stories above, prompting everybody to look upwards. Floating down from a higher level of the castle was Helwic. Surrounding her were four other figures, all surrounded by a fire-like glow. Three of them were clearly Xipp, Xeero and Xillch, while the last one appeared to be an unfamiliar humanoid.

The five floating figures all descended until they were at level with the top of the stairs, hovering in the middle of the room. From what Kendra and Seth could see, the unknown fifth person appeared to be a girl.

"It took you long enough," said Murdred. "Have you found a suitable disciple for me at last?"

"No!" gasped Kendra. "How can you do this?"

"Silence!" snapped Helwic, as she shot Kendra with a blast of fire from her fingertip, causing her shirt to burst into flames.

"HELP!" screamed Kendra, as Warren quickly used the Sapphazure to soak Kendra, dousing the fire before it could burn her directly.

"Stop this!" snapped Warren, as he used the Sapphazure to blast everybody who was floating in the air.

"Enough games," said Murdred. "Bring my disciple to me. Now."

Helwic used her magic to direct her group over to Murdred, passing through the force field and landing next to him atop the stairs.

"Bright," said Seth, "what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," replied the unicorn.

"A girl?" snarled Murdred, prompting everyone to stare up the stairs. Standing before Murdred, Helwic and the adlets appeared to be a teenaged girl. She had dyed green streaks in her black hair, and sported grungy clothes. Presumably, she had numerous piercings and tattoos. "Why did you bring me a pathetic girl? Of all the people in the world!"

"Excuse me," said the mysterious girl. "What the hell is _your_ problem?"

"You're a woman. A weak, pathetic woman."

"Helwic, you promised me power if I came with you."

"You!" said Warren. "Murdred is bad news! Get away from there now!"

"Who are _they_?" asked the girl.

"Pests," said Murdred. "Now Helwic. Stop wasting my time and find me a male subject I can use."

"You're pathetic," said the girl. "Helwic saw potential in me. Because I'm _bad_. Just like you."

"Stop it!" exclaimed Kendra, shouting from the bottom of the stairs. She wanted to advance, but knew of the barrier at the top. "You're making a big mistake!"

"Ignore them," said Murdred. "I want a male. Don't test my patience, Helwic."

"Please understand, Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "This girl. She's just as dark and wicked as you were the day I found you. She's perfect."

"She's a woman," said Murdred. "She'll never be perfect."

"Why?" asked the girl. "Because I don't have a goddamn penis?

The adlets snickered amongst themselves.

"Woman are weaker than men. They think they're superior, but that's just feminism trying to level the playing field."

"I bet you're afraid to select me," said the girl.

"Too scared? More like too smart. Just who do you think you are, anyway?"

"My name is Naomi Nemes. And I want to be your disciple."

"Stop it!" said Seth. "You don't know what you're getting into."

"I know _exactly_ what I'm getting into. And if some dumb-ass tyrant would just shut the hell up, it would certainly make my day."

"Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "If you were to choose Naomi right now, you could increase your power on the spot. And you could deal with those pests down there. A female disciple is better than no disciple at all."

"Hmm," said Murdred. "That does sound tempting. And those people down there _are_ starting to irritate me. If this Naomi really does show potential, then perhaps it's only fair I give her a chance. Besides, if I deem her unworthy, I can always dispose of her."

"We'd also be able to bestow Naomi with a negafae angel. It would certainly make up for the loss of Demoric."

"It would, wouldn't it," said Murdred. "In that case, I think I will accept this Naomi. I am sensing pure darkness radiating from her mortal body as we speak, so perhaps it's a sign."

"Yes!" said Naomi. "Let's do it!"

"Naomi, stop!" shouted Ingrid. "I used to be lonely and miserable, too! I hated it! But there are good people out there who will care for you if you just give them a chance."

Saying nothing, Naomi sneered at Ingrid and held up her middle finger at her.

"I don't think this is an appropriate time or place for guidance," said Warren.

"Let us begin," said Murdred. "And we can do it right here, so that our friends from Fablehaven can witness for themselves the dawning of the next disciple! If they're smart, they'll leave now. While we aren't concerned with them."

"Naomi, don't!" said Seth.

"Please," said Bracken. "Don't do this! If you come with us, we can help you."

"Enough of this," said Murdred. "Helwic, enhance Naomi already."

"This won't take long," said Helwic, producing a flask of the elixir. Naomi, drink this.

Naomi accepted the flask and proceeded to down it. As she did, Helwic cast a cocoon of fire around her. A moment later, the fire disappeared, and the flask appeared to be empty.

"It is done," said Helwic. "Naomi is now your disciple."

"Excellent," said Murdred, as he removed his hand from Naomi's. "I can feel the darkness within her growing stronger already."

"Yes!" said Naomi, whose voice was starting to sound distorted. "Yes!"

"No!" gasped Warren. "Please stop, Naomi! We want to be your friend."

"She will never be your friend!" growled Murdred. "She is your nemesis! Your enemy! From this moment on, I christen Naomi Nemes with her demon name. Nemenemi!"

"Nemenemi," said Naomi. "I like the sound of that!"

"Listen to your heart, Naomi," said Ingrid. "Please! We care about you! Don't give in to Murdred!"

"My power is coming back!" laughed Murdred. "Just by being near Nemenemi. There's nothing you can do now!"

"Naomi!" cried Ingrid. "Please listen to me!"

"Silence, insolent worm!" yelled Murdred. He then opened his evil eye. While there was still no eyeball within the socket, a blast of white energy shot out and hit Ingrid, turning her into an albino.

"My power is returning!" laughed Murdred.

"Ingrid," said Seth, looking over at his emotionless foster sister. Her skin was just as white as Warren's had once been. She paid him no attention, and was just staring off into space.

"We have to get out of here," said Bracken. "Now!"

"Go ahead and run," said Murdred, as Bracken conjured up a portal. "All you're doing is giving us more time to increase our power."

"Unfortunately, he has a point," said Bright, as the group proceeded to dash through the portal as fast as their legs could carry them.


	20. Sustenance

**Chapter 20: Sustenance**

At the very moment that everybody in the group had made it back onto the front lawn at Fablehaven, Bracken wasted absolutely no time in shutting the portal that lay behind them.

"Oh my god," said Kendra, who could feel that her heart was pounding away inside her chest like a jackhammer. "That was so scary."

"We're back now," said Raxtus. "We should be thankful for that."

"Ingrid," said Seth, directing everybody's attention over to his catatonic foster sister. "She needs help. Now."

"I've got the Sands of Sanctity right here," said Warren, pulling the cat-shaped artifact out from his bag. He then climbed down from off of Firesquall and walked over to where Geminus was standing. Geminus proceeded to lift Ingrid off from her back and placed her down on the ground next to Warren.

Warren then tilted the tip of the artifact over Ingrid's head, but nothing seemed to be coming out. "Can somebody please recharge this thing? It's out of energy."

"Here," said Geminus, as she placed one of her fingertips onto the artifact. It emitted a brief, pink glow. Geminus then removed her finger.

"Thanks," said Warren, as he tipped over the Sands of Sanctity again. This time, the glowing magical sand poured out and rained down onto Ingrid.

Kendra and Seth watched as color returned to Ingrid's body, and she started moving around again.

"What.. what happened?" asked Ingrid, who appeared to look very confused.

"Ingrid," said Seth. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. How'd we end up here? Last thing I remember was we had confronted Murdred and that disciple of his.

"We had," said Kendra. "But, we lost. Murdred managed to turn you into a mute albino."

"Like Warren was?" asked Ingrid. Everybody responded to her question by nodding.

"But it's okay," said Geminus. "We got you back to safety and healed you."

"As long as we're here," said Warren, "we might as well report back to Stan and let him know what happened."

Once the unicorns had reverted back into fairies, the group, sans the four dragons, made their way back into the house.

Before long, the group had managed to assemble everybody within the household in the living room. They then proceeded to explain to the rest of the family as to what had happened while they were in the Demon Domain.

"You're saying that Murdred now has a disciple of his own?" asked Grandpa.

"Yes," said Seth. "They're calling her... _Nemenemi_."

"What's a disciple supposed to do?" asked Ingrid.

"A disciple to the Demon God?" asked Bright. "Two things we need to worry about. One. Her mere presence is enough to increase Murdred's power. Two. One day her own power will increase so much, she herself will become just as powerful and influential as Murdred himself. From what I understand, Murdred himself was this to Gorgrog."

"Not only that," said Kendra, "but Murdred said something about bestowing Nemenemi with her own negafae angel."

"How is that possible?" asked Grandma.

"I have a theory," stated Bracken. "But it's just based on speculation from what I've been told. You see, a royal demon may only have one negafae angel serving them directly. Helwic initially served Gorgrog, while Murdred was given Demoric at some point. However, when Gorgrog wound up in the mortal world, he left Helwic, his negafae angel, back in the Demon Domain. When Gorgrog failed to return, Murdred claimed ownership of Helwic, even though he already had his own negafae, Demoric."

"It would make sense," said Seth. "Since there are other negafae out there, you'd think Murdred would just enhance all of their power if he could do so."

"Except he can't. However, by welcoming Nemenemi into his lineage, the opportunity to enhance another negafae had arisen."

"I wonder why Helwic and Demoric are the only two negafae angels we actually know about," said Ingrid

"Either they were destroyed at some point in the past," said Bright. "Or Gorgrog was the first and only Demon God prior to Murdred."

"Wait a moment," said Seth. "I thought Gorgrog had children of his own. Wouldn't they have had negafae of their own?"

"It's hard to say," said Clover. "There were no reports of any negafae sightings from when Zzyzx was opened. And we've never crossed paths with them in the Demon Domain. And why _wouldn't_ Murdred want them if they're still around? It could be that negafae angels are reserved only for the actual Demon God himself and his chosen heir."

"They definitely have drastically different customs than we do, that's for sure," said Bright.

"I think we're not addressing the real problem here," said Dale. "What exactly is going to happen with Nemenemi?"

"It's hard to say," replied Bracken. "For you see, Nemenemi's power was steadily rising from the moment that she drank the elixir. And the more power that she accumulates, the more power there is for Murdred to presumably syphon.

"As bad as it is, it still seemed impressive," said Warren. "Mind you, when Seth was forced to drink the elixir, it didn't take very long for an enhanced Murdred to make his way into Fablehaven and try to take over the place."

"That does raise some concern," said Grandpa. "Although we have reason to believe that Helwic or anybody would have access to Fablehaven. Last time they came through, it was due to the fact that Helwic had set up a warp point on the preserve while she was masquerading around as Sarah."

"And I later dispelled that warp point," noted Clover. "So with no established warp points remaining at Fablehaven for Helwic to access, it's impossible for the demons to transport themselves into the preserve. So at least we'll be safe on the preserve."

"It's a good thing too that you fairies enhanced the barrier when you did," said Grandma. "If they come after us, we'll need it."

"I can understand how Murdred was able to gain the power that he did when Seth drank the elixir," said Kendra. "Because, Seth, you _are_ a shadow charmer. And therefore, you possess the raw energy that Murdred can utilize, at least if he could render you evil by use of that elixir."

"What's your point?" asked Seth.

"Well Naomi was just seemed to be an ordinary human being. Albeit one with bad intentions. But I don't believe she was a shadow charmer or anything of the sort."

"The only theory I have for that," said Bracken, "is that Naomi is a lot like Damien Dukes was, before his descent into becoming Murdred. Only difference I can think of, is that Damien's transgression took longer, presumably because he did not consume an elixir."

"So not only did that elixir just make Naomi even worse," said Grandpa. "But it could very well alter her appearance into that of an actual demon?"

"If it did, it really wouldn't surprise me," said Warren. "She might even provide Murdred with the sheer power that he needs to grow back his evil eye. After all, even without an actual eyeball, he had already harnessed enough power to turn Ingrid into a mute albino, just like I used to be."

Ingrid groaned.

"Ingrid, you should be relieved," said Bright. "We got you out of there right away and made sure that you got restored back to normal as quickly as we could using the Sands of Sanctity."

"Oh really?" snapped Ingrid, displaying a scowl on her face. "What are you trying to cheer me up for? I'm a loser and everybody knows it!"

"Ingrid, you're not a loser," said Seth. "What are you so mad about anyway?"

"Because I'm useless!" shouted Ingrid, as she got up and stormed out of the room, then proceeded to dash up the stairs to the second floor of the house.

"Ingrid, come back!" shouted Mrs. Sorenson, as her daughter's footsteps could be heard making the way across the upstairs hallway and into her bedroom, followed by the slamming of her door.

"What's the matter with Ingrid?" asked Seth.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Kendra. "She feels like she's nothing but a huge burden who keeps getting herself into trouble, even though it's not on purpose."

Seth paused for a moment. "I get what you're saying. I think I'll go up and talk to her."

"Ingrid might just want to be left alone," said Mr. Sorenson.

"I'll just see if she wants to talk. If she yells at me, I'll leave her be."

Seth then got up from his seat and made his way out of the living room. He then went upstairs and down the hall to the door to Ingrid's bedroom, which had formerly been the guest bedroom prior to her arrival. It was now decorated in bright pastel colours, along with numerous fairy and unicorn trinkets.

"Ingrid," said Seth, as he knocked on the door. Can I come in?"

Seth waited around for a moment, but got received no response. He knocked a second time and called for Ingrid again, but she still did not respond.

"Ingrid, I'm coming in," said Seth, as he placed his hand on the doorknob, twisted it and entered the bedroom.

Lying face-down on her canopy bed, head in her pillow was Ingrid. Seth went over to Ingrid's bedside and sat down next to her.

"Hey," said Seth softly. "Are you okay?"

Seth waited for a reply, but Ingrid did not say a word.

"Ingrid?" he asked again.

"Do I _look _okay?" blurted Ingrid.

"You look fine. A little upset, but you _look_ fine."

"What was the point of me going to the Demon Domain, Seth?" asked Ingrid, as she lifted her head up from the pillow, revealing that she had been crying due to the tears that were flowing down from her eyes.

"Well, you _did _volunteer yourself into going. Nobody was forcing you to come along."

"You want to know why I asked to come?" asked Ingrid. "It's because I've contributed nothing to this family. I've been nothing but a sponge ever since the day I first arrived at Fablehaven. And my life was no picnic before that, either."

"Look," said Seth, placing a hand upon Ingrid's shoulder, "I know you had a troubled life before Fablehaven. But what's that got to do with what went on today?"

Ingrid proceeded to wipe the tears off of her face with a tissue paper, then turned to face Seth. "Back when I was living on the street, I was getting nothing out of life. But I couldn't complain, as I myself wasn't really contributing anything to society. So as miserable as that life was, I didn't really feel as though I owed anything to anyone."

"But now you a have a loving family. One that cares for you very much."

"I know. But that's also part of the problem. Everyone else at least contributes something to this family. Grandpa and Grandma run the preserve. Mom and Dad put effort into raising us. Dale looks after the creatures. You, Kendra and Warren go on all these adventures. But what have I done ever since I came here? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

"Ingrid," said Seth, "don't think like that."

"Why not? Why should I be beating around the bush. Isn't it obvious? I am useless! Even when I'm living in a household were everybody else is doing _something_, what have I done that matters to anybody?

"Ingrid, calm down. Most kids our age are still in school. No offense, but you probably shouldn't be comparing yourself to me or Kendra."

"I know _that_. Compared to you two, I'm worthless."

"Don't say that. All of us at Fablehaven love you. If you don't like adventuring, you don't have to come along again if you don't want to."

"But that's the thing. I _want_ to come along. Your adventures sound so cool and interesting. I felt jealous when you guys all went to Cloud Canyon and I had to stay behind. That's why I wanted to go on the next mission that you went on, even if it meant entering the Demon Domain."

"You sound pretty eager," said Seth. "In a way, you're like me. But as incredible as I make myself out to be, even I wasn't being encouraged to run along and go on adventures before I was experienced."

"Yeah, I heard you snuck around quite a bit," said Ingrid. "And you got into all sorts of mischief."

"What can I say? Grandpa was really conservative the first time that Kendra and I came here to visit. It was only by violating Grandpa's silly rules that we discovered what we did, and got Grandma restored back into a human from being a chicken.

"See? You guys had all the fun."

"It wasn't all fun. Because we didn't know any better. some of it was scary. Moreso than it needed to be. And you know why? Because we were inexperienced. Just like you were. But we weren't jumping into a world that was overrun with demons. You want to know one of the first stupid things that I got myself into? Catching a fairy, then getting transformed into a disfigured walrus as punishment."

"Compared to what _I_ just went through, that doesn't sound so bad."

"Oh, it was worse than it sounds," said Seth, as he got down on the bed and kneeled on the floor, facing Ingrid. "I flopping around like an animal." Seth then clapped his hands together several times. "Arf arf arf!"

"I think that's a seal, not a walrus," said Ingrid, whom Seth noticed was starting to smile.

"And I had big, ugly tusks," he continued, placing his thumbs against his upper canine teeth, then lowering them down to his waist. "They had to have been _this_ long!"

"So you were a walrus," said Ingrid. "You make it sound like it was fun."

"It wasn't fun," said Seth. "For one thing, it the transformation wasn't done properly, so I couldn't really think or recall the experience much at all. And there weren't really any friendly fairies on the preserve back then like there are now. Bright or Clover? Nope, they weren't around. Raxtus or Geminus? No dice. Not even fairies like Passion, Larissa or Goldenrod were there. It was a rough place back then. If you got into trouble, it was hard to get out."

"Didn't you have to get taken to Muriel?"

Seth nodded. "My restoration came at a price. Even though the issue of Muriel is no longer a concern, that incident really got to me. Not right then and there, but later on I really started to reflect upon it."

"Need I remind you what happened on my first adventure? Not counting when I first got abducted and taken to Murdred, mind you."

"You think that's bad?" asked Seth. "Both and myself have been kidnapped by the enemy more than enough times to count."

"And not counting when Murdred came to Fablehaven allegedly transformed me into a monster, along with the rest of the family."

"What are you getting at?"

"I get to fly around on a dragon and nearly get boiled by lava, while everyone else does _something_ to save me. Then at Murdred's castle, everybody seemed to be fighting the off the demon guards, whether it was a dragon using raw power, Warren or Kendra using their relics, or even you with your sword."

"Well, you don't exactly have a sword."

"Just as well," said Ingrid. "It's not like actually having one would do me any good. I don't have any training with one anyway."

"So maybe this trip to the Demon Domain didn't exactly work out in your favor. It doesn't mean you should just give up. If anything, it taught you what to expect and what to watch out for."

"I was turned into a helpless albino!"

"Warren was also an albino. For _two_ years! You were one for two minutes! And Warren was also trapped in the knapsack with no hope of escape for three months! But does he ever quit? No!"

"I get what you're saying," said Ingrid. "But Warren knows how to fight and defend himself."

"Well why shouldn't he? He may seem smug, but deep down, Warren knows how to work hard. I'm sure it took him years to gain the strength and confidence he possesses today. But just like the rest of us, he never once ventured into a place like the Demon Domain until last month."

Ingrid nodded.

"Pace yourself," said Seth. "We are a loving family here at Fablehaven. Not a group of fierce competitors. Nobody's winning any trophies here. You want to know the best way to succeed? Just be yourself. If you believe you have a weakness, analyze it and determine what you can do about conquering it."

"Seth, I get it. Be myself and don't worry about what other people are doing. But that's not enough. I still want to come along and help you."

"Well, I get the impression we'll be returning to the Demon Domain really soon. Before you have time to really improve your skills."

"Well, I may not have time for any lessons, but there is _one_ thing I want to work on. My courage. They say the best way to overcome your fears is to face them head-on. And what better way to do that than to go back to the Demon Domain?"

"I get what you're saying," said Seth, revealing a smile. "Would you want one of those courage potions before we go?"

Ingrid winced. "Nah. This isn't magical fear, it's just... Wait, you mean I can come next time?"

"Only if you're not chicken," said Seth, as he folded his arms and began clucking.

"I'm no chicken."

"Grandma used to be a chicken. She might resent that remark."

"I'm sure she would, Mr. Walrus."

Seth then clapped his hands again. "Arf! Arf! Arf!"

Ingrid laughed and got up from her bed."Thanks. I needed that."

"Let's go back downstairs," said Seth, as placed his arm around Ingrid's shoulder "We can tell the others about your decision."


	21. Chasm Creepers

**Chapter 21: Chasm Creepers**

After leaving Ingrid's bedroom, she and Seth then made their way back down to the first floor where the rest of the family was still sitting around in the living room.

"Hey," said Dale. "Ingrid's smiling again."

"You must really care about Ingrid if you were able to calm her down so well," said Mr. Sorenson.

"Seth was once a rookie, just like myself," said Ingrid, as she sat back down on a chair. "He said that sometimes things can get off to a bad start, even for the best of us."

"You're feeling better now, I take it," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she got up and gave Ingrid a hug. Ingrid nodded. "Thanks, Mom."

"I hate to break up the party," said Warren, "but we've still got a situation on our hands that seems a wee bit more important. Murdred and Nemenemi are building up their strength in the Demon Domain as we speak."

"You've got a point," said Clover. "We need to get back to the Demon Domain ASAP and stop them."

"But how?" asked Kendra. "Murdred was expecting us that last time. And all of the fairies' combined light energy wasn't even enough to penetrate that force field that was protecting him."

"Well, it sounds like a full-on frontal assault would be getting in over our heads," said Warren. "Bummer."

"If an attack is out the question," said Seth, "what exactly could we do?"

"Sounds like the wisest option would be to sneak into the castle again using invisibility," said Bright. "If we have no means of stopping Murdred or Nemenemi directly, we might at least be able to learn something if someone can get into the castle and snoop around without being detected."

"That might be the best thing we can hope for," said Grandpa. "Perhaps by use of espionage, it would give you the opportunity to get the drop on them when they lower their guard."

"I'll go," said Kendra. "If we're not looking to pick a fight, I want to do what I can to help."

"I think that you should all go," said Grandma. "Even if you aren't at risk of getting caught, I feel that you should have support, in case there is extra security around Murdred's castle. If he was expecting you the last time, why should this next instance be any different?"

"But we don't have the power to turn everybody invisible," said Clover. "Not in the Demon Domain."

"We should at least make the effort," said Seth.

"And I want to come too," said Ingrid, drawing looks from everybody else in the room.

"Ingrid," said Mrs. Sorenson. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Even if I can't offer much in the way of help, I need to ready myself for the future. I'm not going to give up just because of a bad experience I had in the past. Even if I'm just along for the ride, it's better than waiting at home doing nothing."

"Okay," said Mr. Sorenson. "If that's how you feel. People do learn from the mistakes, after all."

"We should get going, then," said Warren. "We don't have any time to lose."

Once the rest of the family had wished them goodbye, Kendra, Seth, Ingrid, Warren, Bright and Clover grabbed their gear and made their way out of the house through the back door. They then passed through the backyard and made their way over to the dragon family's cave, where they were quickly greeted once they stepped up to the entrance.

"You guys done already?" asked Raxtus.

"We have to go back," said Seth. "We have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Back?" asked Skyfrost. "You guys actually want to go _back_ to the Demon Domain?"

"After what we went through the last time," said Firesquall, "you think you'd have learned to stay away from that place."

"None of us actually _wants_ to go back there," said Bright. "Believe me, we can't stand that place any less than the rest of you."

"Look, if we don't do something about Murdred and Nemenemi now," said Clover, "it may be too late to stop them should they chose to return to this world. You saw what happened. Their power could increase to unfathomable levels by the time they decide to come after us."

"Please come with us," said Kendra. "We really need your help."

"Of course we'll come," said Raxtus. "But we'll know to be more careful this time."

As everybody mounted atop of the same wyverns as they did on their previous trip. Geminus then picked up Vanessa in her arms. They then made their way back through the yard and up to the back door of the house, where Dale came out to meet them.

"Thank you so much for helping us," said Raxtus.

"I'll take good care of Vanessa," said Dale. "You guys just take care of Murdred."

"Easier said than done," said Warren. "Right now, I'd settle for just _stopping_ Murdred, knowing that we probably can't truly defeat him."

"I guess this is my cue," said Bright, as she stepped the to front of the group. She then used her power to conjure up a portal that would lead them all back into the Demon Domain.

"Let's do this," said Ingrid, as Geminus, whom she was seated on the back of, nodded in agreement.

"Goodbye, you guys!" said Dale. "And good luck!"

"Goodbye," said Kendra, who looked back at Dale as Raxtus proceeded to walk towards the portal. Part of her wished that she could stay behind at Fablehaven with the rest of her family, where it was safe.

Once the group had passed through the portal, they came out on the floor of what appeared to be a large chasm.

"What is this place?" asked Seth, as Bright closed the portal behind everybody. "It's hot here."

Kendra examined where they were standing. Apparently, they were huddled together atop a small island in the middle of a narrow chasm, which was surrounded by a river of flowing lava.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Ingrid. "We're gonna melt! We're only a few feet away from that lava!"

"I think we'll be fine," said Bracken. "The laws of the moral world don't necessarily apply here. So as long as we refrain from touching the lava, we should be fine."

"This island's barely large enough for all of us to stand on," said Clover, who was standing near the edge.

"Well, the least that the three of us can do would be to disappear," said Bracken. He then vanished in a poof of sparkles, followed by Bright and Clover.

"What about us?" asked Ingrid.

"Don't worry about that," said Geminus. "We can just fly out!"

Geminus then extended her wings outwards. Seth then noticed that Geminus' wingspan not only exceeded the width of the island, but almost spanned the between the entirety of the chasm's walls. It wasn't that Geminus' wingspan was overly large or anything; the chasm itself had the be no more than twenty feet wide.

"How are we supposed to fly in a place like this?" asked Skyfrost. "It's so narrow here."

"With great difficulty," replied Raxtus.

"I've got a better idea," said Warren. "Let's just fly straight up and out of this chasm."

"Okay," said Geminus, as she veered sideways and proceeded to fly directly upwards. Raxtus, Skyfrost and Firesquall then flew up after her, bringing their riders along with them.

After flying up roughly one hundred feet, the dragons came to a halt when they discovered that the chasm had a ceiling.

"What kind of place is this?" asked Firesquall.

"It must be some kind of underground river of lava," replied Kendra. "I guess we're just going to have to look for another way out."

"But this chasm's really narrow," said Skyfrost. "It's not going to be easy for us to fly through."

"We're gonna have to," said Raxtus. "We can do it. Just got to take it slow and steady."

Raxtus then flew off down the chasm in one direction, trying to make sure that neither of his wings would crash into one of the surrounding walls. Geminus, Skyfrost and Firesquall all followed Raxtus' lead, doing their best to avoid from hitting the sides of the chasm as well.

The chasm turned out to not be a perfectly straight line. It twisted and turned a number of times as the dragons continued through it. Kendra and Seth both kept their eyes peeled as they flew through the chasm, in hopes that they could potentially find an alternate exit.

Raxtus eventually came to a stop in midair, prompting the rest of the dragons to stop as well.

"Raxtus," said Ingrid, "what's the matter? Why'd you stop?"

"The chasm gets narrower up ahead," replied the platinum fairy dragon. "We can't fly through with out wingspans. They're too long."

"I've got an idea," said Seth. "I saw this in a movie once. An airplane had to fly between two buildings, so the pilot titled the plane onto its side so that the wings could fit through."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous," said Kendra.

"Not to mention implausible," said Skyfrost. "If we were to turn sideways in midair, our wings would be unable to push downwards against the air and keep us afloat."

"Maybe we should go back the other way?" asked Ingrid. "Or just head back home and try another portal?"

"The other way doesn't sound like a horrible idea," said Kendra.

"And these portals are always a gamble," said Warren.

"This chasm wasn't the worst place to arrive in," said Seth. "At least we haven't run in to any monsters in here."

"I can see why," said Warren. "Not even they'd want to live in a place like this."

"I've got an idea," said Ingrid. "Why not just fly around on the unicorns instead?"

"Unicorns need magic to fly," replied Raxtus. "Coupled with the fact that they can't maintain their power in the Demon Domain, they would exhaust themselves before long."

"We could just cling to the wall," said Skyfrost, as he flew up against one of the walls, digging into it with the nails on his wings and toes. Seth made sure to hang on tightly to the wyvern he was mounted upon.

"Might as well give it a shot," said Raxtus, as he too clung onto the wall, bringing Kendra along with him. Firesquall and Geminus also followed suit.

The dragons proceeded to climb across the wall, continuing through the narrowing crevice which would've been too cramped for them to fly through. Kendra was amazed at the nails that the dragons possessed. Long and sharp, they were capable of digging their way deep enough into the rocky wall that the dragons were able to use them as wedges.

The chasm continued on for a while longer, until the ceiling of the chasm came to a point where it started lowering downwards.

"Where does this lead?" asked Ingrid, as the dragons were left with no choice but to climb down the wall towards the river of lava below.

"The lava is still flowing below us," said Warren. "Even though the ceiling is lowering, there's still a passage for the lava to pass through.

The dragons all crept down the wall until they were only a few yards above the flowing lava. Surely enough, even though the chasm had come to an end, there was still a passage that the lava continued to flow through.

"Look!" exclaimed Seth. "I see light at the end of the passage!"

Kendra peered into the passage, and surely enough, there appeared to be an exit to the outside world at the end of it.

"We've got to be careful," said Geminus. "This passage isn't very high. Not even high enough for us dragons to cling to the wall in."

"We could still cling to the ceiling," said Firesquall. "If we're not flying through it, we don't need to worry about our wingspans."

"Go for it," said Warren. "But, be careful."

"You don't have to tell us," said Raxtus, as he crawled into the passage, hanging to the ceiling, which was only ten feet or so above the flowing lava. Kendra was now completely upside down, clinging on to Raxtus' saddle with both her hands and ankles.

The other dragons followed Raxtus' lead, with their passengers also hanging onto them for their lives. Although the journey to the end of the tunnel did appear to be very long, it felt like it was taking an eternity.

At long last, Raxtus climbed out of the tunnel and was now outside. The tunnel had apparently been in a cliffside, and the lava that had been flowing through it was pouring downwards like a waterfall into a basin at the bottom of the cliff.

The other dragons caught up with Raxtus, who continued climbing up along the cliff face, so that he and Kendra were now right-side up again.

"We made it!" said Seth, now proud to be outdoors again. They appeared to be in a rather mountainous region of the Demon Domain.

"Just in time," said Skyfrost. "My poor claws can't take any more of the spelunking!"

"I don't blame you," said Geminus. "That was quite a climb. And us dragons aren't very adept at climbing in the first place. Hence why we have wings."

"We should land somewhere," said Warren. "You dragons deserve a rest."

The dragons then let go of the wall. Before they could fall, they all spread out their wings and proceeded to fly off, away from the basin of lava that lay beneath them.

They soon came to a landing upon a nearby plateau. It was at this point that the riders dismounted their dragons.

"My claws are still sore," cried Firesquall, as he presented the claw of one of his wings to Warren. Warren then felt the wyvern's claw wing his fingers, prompting Firesquall to moan.

"Does that hurt?" asked Warren.

"A little. It feels kind of sore."

"My claws hurt too," said Skyfrost.

"Same here," said Raxtus.

"Ditto," chimed in Geminus.

"We've all got healing potions on us," said Warren. "Everyone. Offer your dragon a healing potion."

Kendra and Seth both pulled a vial out of their bag containing a white liquid. Although the dragons possessed healing magic, it was better for them to not exhaust it if doing so was not necessary. Next, they uncorked the vials and poured their contents into mouths of their respective dragons. Warren and Ingrid also did the same.

"Thanks," said Skyfrost, once he had downed the potion. "I feel better already." The other dragons all nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Warren. "But this is no time for a snack break. We've got to get to Murdred's castle on the double."

Everybody then got back on their dragons, who took off into the air once again.

"Well, at least we're out of that cave," said Ingrid, as they passed over a barren section of land.

"Yeah, but we still don't know where we are," said Seth.

"Lotta good that would do us," said Kendra. "We don't know where the castle is either."

"We could just attempt to sense where it is like we did before using magic," said Warren. "But, it's really just a huge shot in the dark."

"Doesn't anybody know where this castle is?" asked Skyfrost.

"That guy down there probably does," replied Firesquall.

"Guy down there?" asked Seth. "What guy?"

"I see him," said, looking down at a figure on the ground below, not too far off from their current location.

"Are you saying we should just fly down there and ask him?" asked Ingrid.

"Not a bad idea," said Warren. "He doesn't look very big, and he appears to be alone. But looks can be deceiving in the place. We'll need to be careful."

The dragons flew down towards the figure and landed nearby, quickly gaining his attention. The figure was humanoid in both size and appearance, and possessed grey, warty skin. He appeared to be fixated at the presence of the whole group.

"Excuse me," said Seth. "Do you know the way to Murdred's castle?"

The monster took a few paces back. "Uh, why should I tell you?"

"Um, we want to go there," said Seth, sounding somewhat confused.

"If I tell you where it is, will you leave me alone and not tell anyone what I told you?"

"Sure," said Seth, as he turned his head back towards his allies. "I think this guy's scared of us," he said in a whisper.

"Murdred's castle is in _that _direction," said the monster, pointing his with his scaly hand, which appeared to be trembling in fear.

"It better be," said Seth. "Because if we go that way and don't find it, we'll come looking for you."

"I promise!" gasped the monster. "Just don't hurt me!"

"Okay," said Seth. "Come on, guys. Let's see if our informant is being truthful. Skyfrost, fly off in the direction that this fella pointed in."

Skyfrost proceeded to flap his wings, the leapt up into the air and flew off in the direction that the monster had pointed in, followed by the other dragons.

"Seth," said Ingrid, "how can you be sure that monster was telling the truth?"

"His fear sounded legitimate. It just seemed so honest."

"At least he wasn't like that other monster," said Raxtus. "This guy was a wimp!"

"Let's hope he was at least being truthful," said Kendra.

Before long, Murdred's castle appeared in the distance.

"They say that you can't win 'em all," said Warren. "But I think this was one of those times where you really do get to win."


	22. Nemenemi

**Chapter 22: Nemenemi**

As they approached Murdred's castle, the dragons made sure to land behind a butte not too far off from the bridge that spanned over the moat. Once the dragons had come to a complete stop, their riders all climbed down from them, while Bright, Bracken and Clover all appeared before them.

"Well, this is it," said Warren. "Kendra, your group will be on your own from here."

"Do we really have to do this by ourselves?" asked Kendra.

"Unfortunately," said Bracken. "As long as we're in the Demon Domain, any magic of our own that we use to render anybody invisible will not last all that long here."

"Besides, if you were to share the gloves with someone," added Warren, you'd be sacrificing mobility for an ally. And as long as you have Raxtus and Bright by your side, you won't be alone."

"Remember," said Bracken. "This is purely an espionage mission. You're only going inside to try to obtain information. "Under no circumstance are you to engage in any sort of combat. Should any of you get detected, you are to retreat as quickly as possible. We're going to wait right here for you to return."

"Problem," said Bright. "If we retreat back to Fablehaven, how are the rest of you going to know?"

"Well, our power to communicate over long distances won't work in this world. However, since we're nearby, if you conserve your power, you should be able to home in on our light energy and teleport the three of you out of the castle and back here. Returning to us is also what you should do in case you do find any information, even if you don't get caught, because then the rest of us will be able to reenter the castle and assist you."

"Got it," said Raxtus. "Whatever happens, we'll travel back to this spot."

"I should be able to manage it," said Bright. "This place is close enough, even the harsh darkness of Murdred's castle shouldn't be able to stop me."

"Okay then," said Warren. "We'll be right here waiting for you. You know we'd come along if we could."

"It's best if Bracken and I stay behind as well," said Clover. "In case any monsters discover us here. We're pretty much sitting ducks as it is."

"Thanks," said Kendra. "As long as they're unable to spot us, there isn't much more I could ask. Not much that's within reason, anyway."

"I guess we should get going," said Raxtus, as he helped Kendra back up onto this back, while Bright suddenly vanished. Kendra then slipped on the gloves and turned invisible at the same time that Raxtus made himself disappear as well.

"Good luck, everybody," said Clover, as Raxtus proceeded to turn away from the butte that the group was hiding behind, and over towards the castle.

"Goodbye," said Kendra, who was waving back out of instinct, even though nobody possessed any capacity to see her.

Within a few seconds, Raxtus had flown away from the butte and landed on the bridge that crossed over the moat between the castle and the mainland. Standing to the side of the doors was the warthog-like sentry who regularly stood guard there.

_Allow me _said Bright's voice through telepathy. A streak of rainbow sparkles suddenly appeared out of nowhere and went flying into the sentry, causing him to close his eyes, fall asleep and collapse on the spot.

"Good," said Raxtus, as he walked up to the doors, slid one of the open and crept inside to the castle's entry hall.

Kendra gazed around at vast room they now stood in. The place appeared to be completely empty, unlike on their previous visit when it had been swarming with monsters. Kendra looked high and low, just to make sure there wasn't anybody hiding behind a corner or the railing of an upper floor. She saw nothing.

"Well," so far, so good," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to flap his wings, then took off and soared up towards the hall's astonishingly high ceiling, which probably didn't stop until the top floor of the castle. As they rose up through the hall, passing by every floor, Kendra still did not notice any monsters lurking around.

Before long, Raxtus had reached the top floor, although the dome-shaped ceiling of the front hall extended up a fair bit farther. He then flew over to the top of the large staircase than ran from the first floor of the castle all the way up to the top.

"Not much further now," said Kendra, who was secretly wishing they didn't have to be going on this mission at all. Why did Murdred and everything to do with the Demon Domain have to even exist? Life would've been so much better off without all of that. But alas, now was not the time for wishful thinking.

Raxtus slowly proceeded down the hallway that stood before him. Kendra and her allies knew this part of the castle all too well. At the end of the hallway stood the double iron doors that served as the entrance to Murdred's throne room.

Soon Raxtus had reached the two doors, where he came to a full stop. Kendra could tell that he was hesitant to continue, for she too could hear voices bleeding through the doors from the other side.

"Kendra," said Raxtus in a light whisper, "when I came here with Seth, he just placed his ear against the door to hear what was going on."

"It's worth a try," replied Kendra, as she leaned over against the door and rested her ear upon it. She then cupped her hand over her ear.

"Now you listen to me, Nemenemi," said Murdred. "I have bestowed upon you great power. In return for this gift, I demand your full loyalty and allegiance. Do we have a deal?"

"Why should I have to listen to you?" said a voice, more warbly than it had been before. Was that really Nemenemi? It sound nothing Naomi did on their previous visit.

"If you don't, I will see to it that you are destroyed."

"I'm not afraid of you. You need me and you know it."

"I do **not** need you," continued Murdred. "That elixir you were given? I have access to as much of it as I could ever want. If you fail to cooperate, I will dispose of you and have Helwic seek out another disciple."

"I don't _want _to take orders from you," hissed Nemenemi.

"Perhaps you're not worthy of being my disciple after all. Such a pity. And to think that you've shown real potential. If you defy me again, you _will_ be sorry."

"Well, where's my negafae? You agreed that I would receive my own negafae angel if I joined forces with you."

"Your negafae is coming. Helwic just has to pick out the best candidate for you first."

"Well, where is she? Asked Nemenemi. "I have been waiting patiently for her to return.

"You can't rush this sort of thing.

"I am **sick** of waiting."

Kendra then removed her head from against the door. "Guys," she whispered. "Murdred and Nemenemi are quarrelling in there."

"Really?" asked Raxtus. "About what?"

"Power," said Kendra. "But the worst part of it all is, Murdred is going to present Nemenemi with her own negafae angel. If that happens, we'll have another one of those monsters to deal with.

"We can't let that happen," said Bright. "Two negafae angels gave us more than enough trouble in the past. And if this goes through, there's going to be what is essentially a stand-in for Demoric."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" asked Raxtus.

"It sounds like Helwic will be returning with a negafae that they intend to grant negafae angel status to. We need to prevent that from happening at all costs."

"Why don't we just wait here in the hallway?" asked Raxtus. "Then we can assault the negafae before it becomes a negafae angel.

"Too many problems with that plan," said Bright. "For one, we'd expose ourselves to Helwic if we did that, and she has the power to destroy all of us here in the Demon Domain. And even if we did succeed in destroying the negafae, what's to stop Helwic from going back and just seeking out another one? And then there's the possibility that Helwic just warps herself and the negafae directly into the throne room.

"Well, we need some sort of plan," said Kendra.

"The best hope we have might be for us to wait inside the throne room," said Raxtus, "then wait until the time is right."

"Its sounds dangerous," said Bright, "but it might be our best shot at succeeding."

"Question," said Kendra. "How exactly are we supposed to get inside without drawing their immediate attention?"

"I'll use a warping spell to get us past the door. It's only a few feet, so I should be able to manage, even in this place. You two ready?"

"I don't think I'll ever be ready. So let's just do it now and get it over with."

"Okay," said Bright. Kendra then a stream of rainbow sparkles circle around her, followed by a tingling feeling throughout her body.

A moment later, Kendra saw that she was no longer standing in a hallway. Instead, they were standing inside Murdred's throne room, close to the entrance doors. Apparently, the spell had worked.

At the far end of the room, near the dais, stood Murdred and Nemenemi, who appeared to still be bickering about something. Near them were Xipp, Xeero and Xillch, who were lying down on the floor.

"We need to get a bit closer," said Bright in a whisper, prompting Raxtus to slowly tiptoe through the room, closer to where the villains had gathered.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Raxtus.

"I was going to suggest attacking Nemenemi," said Bright. "But not only are the adlets here to attack us, but I'm sensing a stronger presence from her than before.

Once they had gotten significantly closer, Kendra was better able to make out Nemenemi. She had certainly changed since Kendra had last laid eyes upon her. Nemenemi's eye's were now glowing black. Her hair had gotten longer are more straggly, while her teeth and nails had now grown to monster-like proportions. If this was any indication, Nemenemi was only getting worse and worse not only on the inside, but on the outside as well.

"We can't just give up," said Raxtus. "Everybody is counting on us."

"But we don't have the power to take on everybody," said Bright. "Even Murdred alone would be too much for us to handle."

Before Kendra could think of anything to say, the doors to the throne room both swung open. Helwic then walked through the room, with a small, black-haired negafae floating close to her side.

"It's about time," snapped Nemenemi. "Where is my negafae?"

"He's right here, Nemenemi," said Helwic, as she approached her and Murdred.

"Is the negafae you've selected... worthy?" asked Murdred.

"Virulent is the spitting image of Demoric," said Helwic. "He is loyal, responsive, and possess all the traits that you would come to expect in an ideal negafae, Lord Murdred."

"Excellent," said Murdred. "Bestow Virulent to Nemenemi. Now. I have been waiting long enough for the opportunity to obtain another negafae angel."

"What do you mean?" asked Nemenemi. "Virulent is to be my negafae!"

Murdred scoffed. "Virulent may be entitled to you. But as ruler and overlord of the entire Demon Domain, all negafae must answer to me."

"Oh, I get it," said Nemenemi. "You just using me to enhance the power of another negafae so that you can keep him to yourself."

"That's not true," said Murdred. "Virulent would be yours to command. Except for when I request his service."

"You already have a negafae!"

"I want another."

"Helwic, give me Virulent!" snarled Nemenemi.

"I only take orders from Lord Murdred."

"You leave me with no choice," said Murdred, "Adlets. Attack Nemenemi."

"With pleasure, Lord Murdred", said Xipp, as he, Xeero and Xillch stood up and proceeded to walk over towards Nemenemi, their claws held high.

"ENOUGH!" blared Nemenemi, as a visible ring of darkness shot out from her body, pulsing through the entire throne room.

Not only did the force of the darkness knock the adlets off their feet, but Kendra as well. Kendra also felt a cold feeling flowing through her body, as Raxtus collapsed to the floor.

On top of that, the worst of it was that Kendra could see that Raxtus and Bright were no longer invisible. However, Kendra was still invisible thanks to the power of the gloves. She quickly hopped down off from Raxtus' back and turned to face the dragon's head.

"What the..." snapped Murdred. "What are _they_ doing here?"

"Them again?" asked Nemenemi. "Who are they, anyway?"

"Raxtus," said Kendra, who at the moment seemed more concerned with her allies than her enemies. "Are you okay?"

"I'll deal with them," said Helwic, as she proceeded to conjure up a glowing ball of black energy between her hands.

"Hold it!" snapped Nemenemi, as she held out her hand at Helwic and exerted a wave of dark energy at Helwic, causing her ball to suddenly dissipate. "I want to know just _who_ these freaks are."

"They are a nuisance," replied Murdred. "They must be destroyed.

Raxtus moaned, unable to form any words from his mouth. Apparently, the impact of the dark energy had left him weakened.

"Now I'm going to destroy them _this_ time," said Helwic, as she proceeded to conjure up a second ball of dark energy. "Nemenemi, you mind your place or you will never get your negafae."

"Kendra," said Bright. "Raxtus. There's no way we can fight back! We have to leave. Now!"

"Oh no you don't!" said Murdred. "Get them, Helwic. Now!"

"As you command, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she proceeded to direct the ball of dark energy that she had formed in her hands towards Raxtus.

Just before the ball of energy was able to make contact with the fairy dragon, Kendra watched as Raxtus and Geminus both vanished in clouds of rainbow-colored sparkles. With no target for the ball to hit, it kept going and crashed into the wall, leaving a nasty scorch mark on the bricks near Kendra.

"Damn it!" snarled Murdred. "They got away again!"

Something didn't feel right. Raxtus and Bright had not made themselves invisible; they had literally disappeared from the room. And they had left Kendra behind with the villains! Fortunately for Kendra, the gloves that she was wearing kept her concealed from her enemies' view.

"Murdred," said Nemenemi. "I'll ask you again. Who were those two?"

"Two very irksome beings of light," replied Murdred. "The ones whose prevalence makes conquering the other realms such a challenge for myself. The must've thought that they could sneak in here and eliminate me. But those fools will never learn that such a feat is purely impossible."

"So where'd they go?"

"I don't know," said Murdred. "Now stop asking questions, Nemenemi. I have been longing to enhance a negafae ever since I lost Demoric, and I don't wish to keep stalling."

Kendra was frightened. Not only was another negafae angel about to be inaugurated, but she was also worried that somebody else might notice her, even if she was invisible. Why did Bright have to leave her behind, anyway? They were such close friends, too. It had to have been an accident. But what was Kendra supposed to do? Right now, she was essentially trapped in the throne room.

"Yes," said Nemenemi. "If that little distraction is over with, present to me my negafae angel already."

Murdred scoffed. "Very well. "Helwic. Virulent. Stand next to Nemenemi."

Kendra watched as Helwic walked up to Nemenemi, while Virulent flew over to her side.

"Very good," said Murdred. "Now then, Helwic. "It's time to give Nemenemi just what she truly deserves. Start by synching up Nemenemi with Virulent."

"As you command, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she proceeded to encase Nemenemi's entire body within a shield of black energy.

"What are you doing?" asked Nemenemi.

"Just relax," said Helwic.

"Helwic, initiate Plan B," said Murdred.

Suddenly, the shield vanished, seemingly taking Nemenemi along with it.

"Farewell, unworthy one," muttered Murdred.

"Hey, what happened to Nemenemi?" asked Xipp.

"I've banished her to a far corner of the Demon Domain," replied Helwic.

"Nemenemi was far too ambitious for my liking," said Murdred. "I feel that she would never be a suitable disciple for me. Besides, she's a female."

"But, your power!" moaned Xillch. "How will it increase without having Nemenemi or her negafae angel around here?"

"I feel that we've been going about this disciple business the wrong way. Nemenemi was too much of a risk, even by my standards. Sorry, Virulent. Perhaps next time."

Kendra watched as the minor negafae flew off towards the doors at the front of the room.

"What are you going to do now, Lord Murdred?" asked Xeero.

"Right now, I just want to be left alone," said Murdred. "Just being in the presence of Nemenemi had given me a headache. All she did was talk and complain!"

"Very well," said Helwic. "The adlets and I will leave you to your own devices."

"Not quite," said Murdred. "I've still got one more task for you."

"What's that?"

"There have been far too many breaches within the castle as of late. And now Nemenemi is out there as well. I want for you to put the castle under critical lock-down. Absolutely nobody is to leave or enter the castle without my consent. Do you understand."

"Affirmative, Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "I will get right on it."

Mulling over what she had heard, Kendra could feel her heart pounding fiercely inside her. If nobody would be able to get into or out of the castle, then now she really was trapped in this place, with no hope whatsoever of escaping.


	23. Lockdown

**Chapter 23: Lockdown**

Seth was sitting on the rocky ground with his back against the base of the butte, not too far from the entrance to Murdred's castle. As he and the others had not gone into the castle along with Kendra, Bright and Raxtus, he couldn't help but wonder just what they had gotten themselves into.

"They've been in there for quite some time," said Ingrid. "I hope they're all okay."

Warren winced, then took a moment to glance at his watch. "They've only been in there for about fifteen minutes."

"Well, how long's this mission even supposed to take?" asked Seth.

"That's a good question," said Skyfrost. "How long _should_ it take?"

"We don't know," replied Geminus. "That's what has all of us so worried."

"It's too bad we don't have any means of contacting them," said Bracken. "Something like my coins, which we could normally use to communicate across long distances. If only we could utilize fairy magic in this place."

"There's this thing called a _phone_," said Warren. "But, even that wouldn't help. This is a no service area."

"Maybe we should've set a limit," said Clover. "That way we'd know how the other group is doing after a set amount of time."

"You mean, they'd have to report back to us at some point?" asked Firesquall. "Sounds kind of counter-productive."

"Or, we could just take the risk and head in after them ourselves," said Seth.

"Kendra," said Bracken. "Bright. Raxtus. They're all inside the castle and we have no idea if they're even still alive right now."

Clover then shushed everybody. "Quiet!" she said. "I hear something approaching."

"Is it a monster?" asked Seth, only to be shushed a second time by Clover.

With the group now completely silent, Seth could indeed hear what sound like heavy footsteps in the distance. From what he could tell, they were coming from the direction of Murdred's castle, and seemed to be making their way towards the opposite side of the butte.

"I heard it," whispered Geminus.

"You think someone spotted us?" asked Skyfrost.

"Perhaps its Raxtus," said Bracken.

"Why wouldn't he just fly?" asked Firesquall.

"I think whatever this thing is is alone," said Clover. "I can only hear one set of footsteps from a two-footed creature."

"Whatever it is, brace yourself," said Warren, as he drew his sword.

Everyone turned to face whatever it was that was approaching them from the other side of the butte. They were all in for a shock when they saw Raxtus make his entrance, with Bright on his back, leaning against his neck.

Seth experienced his heart skipping several beats when he saw that the alleged _monster _was none other than one of his closest friends.

"Raxtus!" gasped Warren, as he lowered his sword. "You scared the bejeezus out of us!"

"I'm just glad to see you," said Seth. "And Bright."

"Where's Kendra?" asked Bracken, a hint of concern in his voice.

Raxtus moaned, seemingly unwilling, or perhaps unable, to speak. He appeared to look very weary and flushed, if the expression on his face was anything to go by.

"It was awful!" Exclaimed Bright. "Murdred and Helwic came _so_ close to granting Nemenemi with her own negafae! But Murdred got fed up with her..."

"Kendra!" shouted Seth. "What happened to Kendra?"

Bright shook her head. "I'm sorry. But long story short, Nemenemi ended up unleashing a wave of darkness that weakened us, causing our invisibility to wear off. But not Kendra's gloves."

"They're not reliant on fairy magic," said Warren. "Go on."

"Well, we had no hope of fighting off of the enemies that were there. So I conjured up a teleportation spell with the intent of whisking myself, Raxtus _and_ Kendra out of the castle. I assumed Kendra was still on Raxtus' back, but invisible. But she wasn't. We left her behind."

"Bright, why?" asked Ingrid.

"It was an accident! I'm so sorry! We would've gone back for Kendra if we weren't already weakened.

"So Kendra's still up in the throne room?" asked Skyfrost, as he prepared to raise his wings upwards. "It's on the top floor of the castle, right? We can still rescue her!"

"Boys, no!" exclaimed Geminus. "You're throwing yourself into way too much danger if you storm into the castle right now!"

"Don't do it," said Bright. "In this state, all of our power combined wouldn't be enough safely go back in the castle. They know we're here, and Raxtus and I need to recover. Fast."

Bracken looked over at both Bright and Raxtus, then waved his hand before them. "Hmm, they both appear to be nearly drained of their light energy. If they continue to lose much more of their life force, they'll both die."

"I could heal them," said Geminus.

"No," said Bracken. "In the Demon Domain, all light energy is weakened. You wouldn't have the strength to restore even one of them."

"You mean, we have to leave?" asked Seth.

"I'm afraid so," said Clover, who was displaying a saddened look on her face.

"But... Kendra..." said Ingrid.

"We can't go back," said Bright. "It's far too dangerous. We need to get out of the Demon Domain and restore our strength. _Then _we can go back for Kendra."

"But that could take too long! What's she supposed to do? What if it's already too late!"

"Our only hope is that nobody's managed to spot her so far," said Bracken. "And that they never do."

"Kendra," said Seth. "Please be okay."

"Seth," said Bright. "I'm sorry."

"We have to go," said Bracken. "Now."

Bracken proceeded to conjured up a portal in front of the group, gesturing for them to pass through it. Raxtus waddled through the portal first, with Bright still resting on his backside. Seth and Ingrid took a moment to stare back at the castle that was sitting not too far off in the distance.

"She's gone..." said Ingrid, as she held onto Seth's hand.

"Come on," said Warren hesitantly, as he grabbed on to Seth's other hand and gently tugged his arm back.

Saying nothing, Seth pulled Ingrid's arm in response and the two followed Warren into the portal.

Once everyone had arrived back in the yard Fablehaven on the other side of the portal, Bracken immediately used his power to seal it.

"Is everybody okay now?" asked Geminus..

"Not Kendra," said Ingrid.

Bracken attempted to speak, but stuttered for a moment. "We need to think about ourselves for a moment. "Bright. Raxtus. What assistance can we provide for you?"

"We are in dire need of light energy," said Bright. "But at least our situation won't get any worse where we are now."

"But Clover and Geminus can't just exhaust their energy for them," said Skyfrost. "We need another source!"

"Light energy, coming right up!" said Clover, as she closed her eyes and placed her hands against her head.

"Stop fooling around, Clover," said Ingrid. "This is serious!"

"Patience," said Bracken.

A moment later, a large court consisting of over one-hundred fairies swarmed over towards the group from the direction of the garden. They proceeded to fly down towards where Bright and Raxtus were both barely managing to keep themselves standing up with their own strength.

The smaller fairies, all of whom were glistening in myriad of colors, proceeded to fly around Bright and Raxtus in a circle. Their speed increased as they spun around the two in circles, until they had formed a rainbow-like bubble encompassing Bright and Raxtus.

The bubble shone brilliantly, until the fairies started to slow down. As they ultimately came to a stop, the rainbow bubble vanished, revealing Bright and Raxtus again.

"They did it!" said Raxtus, who sounded as energetic as he ever did. "I feel like a brand-new dragon!"

"Thank you, my kin," said Bright. "All of you."

Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all flew out from the court of fairies and over towards Bright, stopping to hover in front of her face.

"You're welcome!" said Goldenrod.

"Anything we can do to help!" said Passion.

"That's incredible!" said Ingrid. "They restored Bright and Raxtus in a flash! If all of these other fairies came with us, we'd have an entire army that could take on Murdred!"

"No can do," said Bracken. "These fairies have power, but it can only go so far. Especially in a harsh environment made up of darkness such as the Demon Domain."

"On top of that," said Larissa, "restoring Bright and Raxtus took a fair amount of power out of all of us. I don't think we could muster up the power within us to do that again for a while."

"Even if you were still in peak condition," said Bright, "I would still advise against you minor fairies travelling with us into the Demon Domain. It just isn't safe there. Even for us fairy angels. We only travel there out of necessity."

"Look, if everybody in our group is still up to the task," said Warren, "then we've got to get back into the Demon Domain right away. Kendra still needs are help. That is, if it isn't already too late."

"Understood," said Bracken. "I'll open up a portal right away."

Bracken then wasted no time in conjuring up another portal, which would inevitably lead the group back into the Demon Domain.

"I wish we could come with you," said Passion. "We care about Kendra. She's special to us."

"You fairies will be worthless to her if you succumb to the darkness of the Demon Domain," said Bracken. "Please. I implore you to remain here."

"Okay," said Goldenrod. "Good luck. To all of you!"

The group then made their way into the new portal, the other end of which spat them out in an unknown section of the Demon Domain.

"Where are we _now_?" asked Seth, who could see that the group appeared to be on a clifftop overlooking a valley of spires that were jutting out of a lava pool beneath them.

"Wherever it is, it's not where we want to be," said Warren, as Bracken then used his power to shut the portal that they had just travelled through. "But it certainly appears to be really high up."

"At least we're not in some stupid cave this time," said Firesquall. "We can just take to the air from here."

"Got it," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Skyfrost's back, while the others all got up on their respective dragons' backs.

"This is awful," said Ingrid. "It seems like every time we go to the Demon Domain, something bad always seems to happen to us."

"You know, we try n_ot_ to come here as an activity," said Warren. "Believe me, if I never had to venture into this realm again, I would be more than satisfied."

"Yeah, but on our last visit, Kendra got kidnapped. For like the umpteenth time!"

"I don't know if this counts," said Seth. "You see, she may have been left behind in Murdred's castle, but there's always the possibility that she hasn't been discovered. In that case, she technically would not have been kidnapped."

"Let's forget about the technicalities," said Bracken. "We've got to find Kendra right away!"

Bright, Bracken and Clover all vanished, putting themselves into hiding. With their riders now on their backs, sans Raxtus, the dragons all spread out their wings and took off into the air.

"What are we supposed to do if we get spotted again?" asked Ingrid, as the group soared over the land. "That giant caterpillar thing was trouble enough. Suppose more monsters come after us?"

"This is a risk we must take," said Raxtus. "Even though I am capable of rendering myself invisible, the rest of you are not. Doing so would exhaust far too much fairy magic to make the effort worthwhile, and its effect would no doubt not last very long in this world."

"You're saying we just have to press on no matter what?" asked Skyfrost.

"Correct."

"You think maybe there's another weakling monster we could scare into telling us where to find Murdred's castle?" asked Firesquall.

"Hard to say," said Seth. "If this place is anything like the Netherworld, and to be frank, they do share some similarities, then only the strong survive here. That monster we ran into earlier... there probably aren't a whole lot like him."

After flying around for a few more minutes, Seth noticed what looked resembled a large snail sitting atop a large boulder down on the ground below.

"You guys, look!" said Seth. "Down there!"

"I see it!" said Skyfrost, as he veered down towards the ground, prompting the other dragons to follow him.

The dragons all came to a landing not too far off from the boulder where the snail was positioned. Now that he had a better view, Seth could see that the snail was roughly ten feet tall and sported a black shell with numerous spear-like spikes sticking out of its back. It also appeared to have to just on, situated on a stalk growing out of its head.

"This guy doesn't look so dangerous," said Ingrid. "Even if it _is_ big. I mean it's just a snail! Those things are harmless.

"Allow me," said Seth, as he jumped down from off of Skyfrost and walked over towards the snail. The massive mollusk gazed down at Seth with its giant eye.

"Excuse me. But we're looking for the way to Murdred's castle. Have you..."

There was a brief pause. Suddenly, the snail opened its mouth and shot out a blast of some clear gunk directly at Seth, drenching his entire body.

"Eww!" moaned Seth, who attempted to wipe the gunk off of his arms, but was having no real success.

"Seth, get back!" snapped Warren.

Seth tried to step away from the snail, but found that the soles of his shoes were stuck to the ground due to the gunk.

"I'm stuck!" muttered Seth, who was unable to move. Just then, the snail lowered its head down towards Seth, revealing its massive teeth.

"Help!"

Suddenly, a blast of fire shot over Seth's head and collided with the snail's. It then shrieked and tucked its head back into its shell.

"Thanks, Firesquall."

"That was a close one," said Firesquall, as the dragons all walked up towards Seth.

"It was a stupid one, too," said Raxtus.

"I thought it would be harmless! I mean it's just a snail!"

"Some snail are carnivorous," said Warren. "And and that size, humans look pretty tasty to that one."

"Can you help me," said Seth, unable to move any of his limbs. "I'm stuck!"

"I might be able to help," said Warren, as he pulled out the Sapphazure and used it to spray Seth's entire body. Now soaking wet, at least Seth was able to move again. However, he could still feel remnants of the gunk that were still stuck to him in certain spots.

"Thanks," said Seth, as wrung some excess water out of his sleeve. "Now get back. I have some unfinished business with this snail, and I need to play dirty."

"We've got you covered," said Skyfrost, as he and the others all back away from Seth.

Focusing on the snail, Seth concentrated on conjuring up a veil of darkness, which appeared around the entire snail.

"Listen, you!" said Seth. "All I want are directions to Murdred's castle! I tried asking you nicely, but did you listen? No..."

"I'm... sorry!" gasped the snail in a slow voice, who had clearly been intimidated by Seth's hold on him."Release me.. from this veil... and I will... show you... the way!"

"Okay," said Seth, as he allowed the veil to vanish.

The snail proceeded to poke its head back out and faced in one a particular direction. "That... way."

"You better be right."

"Oh... I am..."

"Come on," said Raxtus, as Seth got back on to Skyfrost. The dragons then took off and flew in the direction the snail had told him to take.

"What if that snail was lying to us. I mean, I doubt he could travel very far. He may have never been to the castle before in his life."

"Then we'll fly straight back," said Seth. "It's not like he'd get very far by then."

Within a few minutes of flying, Murdred's castle came into view, just as the snail had promised.

"Color me impressed," said Warren, as the dragons flew down towards the entrance of the castle, not too far from the butte where they had waited gathered earlier.

"Okay," said Geminus. "We're going to need a plan."

I know it's risky," said Seth, "but what if the fairies make one of us invisible, and that person goes in with Raxtus to look for Kendra?"

"Problem," said Warren. "Kendra will probably be invisible too, if she hasn't already been caught. How are we going to find her, or have her find us, especially in huge place like this castle?"

"You've got a point," said Ingrid. "Sounds like we're just going to have to go in as we are now."

"At least we can all do this together," said Firesquall.

"That's the spirit," said Warren. "We'll find Kendra! I don't care if there's a thousand monsters waiting for us beyond the front door. Kendra needs us!"

The dragons proceeded to charge along the ground. However, just before any of them could set foot on the bridge that crossed over the moat, they all came to a sudden crash, nearly causing them to stumble over. The shock nearly scared Seth half to death.

"What was that?" asked Ingrid, who sounded just as startled as Seth was.

Raxtus proceeded to move his claw forward, only for it to be stopped by what seemed to be an invisible wall.

"No way," said Raxtus. "There seems to be some kind of force field blocking our path."

"A force field?" asked Seth, worried that they would be unable to continue forward.

"No doubt a defense that they set up thanks to the previous intrusion," said Warren.

"Is there any way to disarm it?" asked Ingrid.

"I doubt it," said Geminus. "Even if the fairies helped us, our combined power probably wouldn't be enough to penetrate it."

"And it's probably protecting the entire castle," said Raxtus.

"You mean there's no way in?" asked Seth.

"It sounds like it," said Warren. "As long as that force field is up, it's impossible for us to get into the castle and find Kendra."

"What are we going to do?" asked Ingrid.

"We'll find a way," said Seth. "We've got to save Kendra. We have to."


	24. Fairy Quest

**Chapter 24: Fairy Quest**

Waiting against one of the side walls in Murdred's throne room, Kendra had her eyes fixated on the Demon God himself. As she was wearing the invisibility gloves, it was impossible for Murdred to see her. And because she was making as little noise as possible, he had failed to hear her as well.

Despite this, Kendra was afraid that for some reason, Murdred would somehow detect her presence and immediately come after her. While there was undoubtedly a lot that Kendra didn't know about Murdred, she did know that he was bigger than her and also very powerful. Without a proper means of defending herself, getting caught by Murdred would ultimately result in Kendra getting killed, if not a fate worse than that.

However, Murdred had failed to notice Kendra, no doubt presuming that she had escape from the castle along with Bright and Raxtus. For all Kendra knew, Murdred might not have even known that she had gone in with Bright and Raxtus in the first place.

Whatever his view on the matter was, right now Murdred was sitting on his throne, grumbling to himself and rubbing his forehead. This behavior had been going on for the past few minutes. No doubt it was his response to all the commotion and disarray that had been going on with both the group from Fablehaven and Nemenemi.

Kendra wanted to make her escape from the room, but the doors that stood at the front were the only exit that she was aware of. Instead, she would have to wait for someone else to open the doors for her.

After what felt like ten minutes had passed, Kendra watched as Murdred got up from his throne. Worried that he might have spotted her, Kendra watched as Murdred walked down from the dais and crossed the throne room, stopping a few feet in front of the doors.

"Open," said Murdred, prompting the set of iron doors before him to swing open.

Wanting to keep her distance from Murdred as he passed through the doors, Kendra proceeded to take soft, gentle steps towards the door, which were several yards away from where she had been waiting. However, the doors close almost immediately after Murdred passed through them, long before Kendra would've reached them, even if she had been running.

Now with no way out, Kendra approached the doors and stared up at them. Not only were they large enough for an elephant to get through, but they probably required the strength of an elephant to demolish as well.

Kendra then remembered something. The Emerock! She still had it with her! Wasting no time, Kendra reached into her bag and pulled out the green relic. Hopefully it worked on metal. After all, it worked on earth and wood, so metal was probably a given as well.

Focusing on the relic's power, Kendra attempted to move the doors with it. Although she could feel energy pulsing from the Emerock, it didn't seem to have any impact on the doors.

"What's wrong with this thing?" asked Kendra. If it was able to work on the bricks of the castle, why not the metal doors?

Then it hit Kendra. Even though she was unable to open the doors, she _did _have the power to open the walls. After all, she had previously used the Emerock to remove part of the wall in another part of this very castle.

Kendra figured that the best place for her to go would be the hallway. She would then decide where to go from there. Unfortunately, she had no idea as to whether anybody was currently in the hallway on the other side of the door. Invisible or not, pulling the wall apart would draw anybody's attention. Nevertheless, this was a risk she would have to take.

Kendra moved over to the wall right next to one of the doors. Clenching the Emerock in her hands, Kendra focused on separating a section of the stones large enough for her to fit through from the rest of the wall.

Kendra watched as a cluster of rectangular stones slid forward from the wall, giving her enough space to step through. There was now a hole in the wall, leading out into the hallway. Presumably, she could've passed through another wall or even the floor, but Kendra figured that the hallway made the most sense.

Looking through the hole, Kendra got the impression that fortunately for her, the hallway appeared to be vacant. She then slipped through the hole, stepping out into the hallway on the other side.

Not wanting to leave any evidence of her escape behind, Kendra looked back through the hole and saw the cluster of stones sitting in the throne room, about three feet from the wall. She then used the Emerock again and slid the stones back into their original position within the wall. Although they had now been loosened, Kendra figured that the odds of anybody noticing this any time soon was fairly low.

Kendra crept down the hallway, heading towards the stairwell that lay at the other end. From what she could tell, there was presumably nobody else in the immediate vicinity. Still, there was no reason for her to remove her invisibility gloves, especially since, for all she knew, somebody could just jump out at her at any given moment.

Once she had made her way to the top of the stairwell, Kendra looked down over the balcony. The distance between the top floor and the first was tremendous. Not that she was afraid of falling, but it would definitely be quite a trek to the bottom by foot.

Kendra then remembered something. Murdred had ordered Helwic to set up some sort of impenetrable barrier around the castle. If there was such a thing, how would she ever get past it? And even worse, how would her friends come back to rescue her?

This was it. It didn't matter what she tried. Kendra was trapped in the castle, and had absolutely no way of breaking out. Everybody here was her enemy.

Right now, Kendra just wanted to break down and cry. Here she was trapped in a castle in another dimension. Even if she could get out of the castle, she still lacked the capacity to return to the mortal world, and would still be stuck in the Demon Domain. If only there was a fairy by her side.

Suddenly, Kendra remembered something. Seth had previously been exposed to a fairy when Helwic had abducted him. A fairy that had been kept a prisoner in this very castle! Surely there were other fairies still being held captive! Kendra figured that if she could find wherever it was where they were being confined, perhaps she could rescue them! And maybe she could use their power to open a portal back to the mortal world. Alas, she had no idea as to how the portals so much as functioned, but she could at least help those poor fairies!

Of course, Kendra had zero idea as to where the fairies were being held prisoner. Her first guess was in the dungeon. Possibly in a special room? Or somewhere else entirely? Wherever they were, Kendra figured that trying to find the fairies without any hints was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Kendra was going to need some help in finding these fairies. Of course, the only ones in this castle who would ever help were the fairies themselves. Who else was there? Murdred? Helwic? A guard?

Out of ideas, Kendra proceeded to start walking down the many flights of stairs that were below her. Given that the stairs had been scaled for larger monsters, each step was noticeably larger than the steps she normally encountered on an everyday basis.

Perhaps there was something within the castle that Kendra could use as a means to help herself. She did of course have the Emerock on her. But alas, she was too afraid to use it against someone powerful enough to defend themselves. She would not only risk giving herself away, but the Emerock as well.

The trek down the stairs had been going on for several minutes, although Kendra had only managed to make it down several flights thus far. In a place this big, she was going to have to figure out a better method of finding help.

Suddenly it hit her. Why couldn't Kendra use her power to detect where there was light energy? Surely all of those fairies would give off some sort of reading! Of course, they were probably probably protected by some sort of enchantment. One that likely kept their energy confined to wherever it was where they were being held in captivity.

However, there was another way for Kendra to put her power to use. If she was unable to detect traces of light energy, why couldn't she use it to locate where there was dark energy? While there was undoubtedly dark energy flowing all throughout the atmosphere, she knew that creatures of darkness exerted it on their own as well.

Kendra closed her eyes and attempted to focus on her surroundings. She could feel the chill of darkness surrounding her body in every direction. However, she needed to pinpoint where exactly she could find a focal point of all this darkness. A source.

Looking downwards, Kendra could sense some sort of lump of darkness situated on one of the lower floors of the castle. No doubt it was something significant. It didn't feel powerful enough to have been Murdred, or even Helwic. Hopefully her intuition was correct.

After opening her eyes, Kendra proceeded to dart down one more flight of stairs, making sure to stop at around the same point that she had when she was one story higher. At this point, Kendra focused on the same spot that the dark energy reading had come as last time. Bingo! It was still there, but now it felt closer.

Kendra made her way down two more flights of stairs, stopping to detect the source of darkness at each one. Once she stopped at the third flight, Kendra used her power again. Only this time, she was unable to detect the darkness beneath her. Instead, she found that it was now a lot closer, emanating from a room down the hallway.

Kendra proceeded to cautiously walk through the hallway, making sure to stop before the door to the room where she could only assume the darkness had been coming from. Surely enough, Kendra could hear voices coming from the other side of the door.

Whoever was on the other side of the door, perhaps they could help. Once again, Kendra used her power and was able to verify that the darkness she had spotted had to have been coming from this very room. However, even though she was invisible, there was no way for Kendra to look inside the room without drawing the attention of its occupants.

Holding the Emerock in her hands, Kendra used its power to slide one of the blocks out of the wall and lowered it gently to the floor.

"I just don't know what Murdred is trying to accomplish," said an adlet whose voice was carrying through from the hole as the block slid out. "Murdred was Gorgrog's disciple, and he was the one who overthrew _him_!"

"Now Murdred's more power-hungry than ever!" said another adlet. "And he's going bonkers trying to find a disciple? Just so he can get a hold of another negafae?"

"It would seem that way," said an adlet. Um, did you guys hear something?

Kendra then gazed through the hole in the wall which she had created. In the next room she could see Xipp, Xeero and Xillch all sitting on what appeared to be bone piles.

"You smell that?" asked Xipp, as he moved his head around, trying to locate something.

"Yeah," said Xeero. "It smells like... fairies. Yuck!"

"What's a fairy stench doing here?" asked Xillch.

"Must be from when those Fablehaven freaks barged in here," said Xipp.

"I dunno," said Xeero, as he got up from his pile and started to walk around the room. "It smells... fresh."

"Very fresh," noted Xillch, as he and Xipp followed along.

Soon the adlets had spotted the hole, and were standing mere feet away from where Kendra currently was.

"What's this?" asked Xeero, looking into the hole.

"I don't know," said Xillch. "Something strange is going on here."

"It's close," said Xipp, still sniffing the air. "And it smells like human, too."

The adlets then barged out through the door, standing right next to where Kendra currently was.

"Stop!" shrieked Kendra, knowing that she had no way of escaping.

"A-ha!" barked Xillch. "There is someone here, isn't there!"

"It came from right there," said Xeero, pointing exactly to where Kendra was standing.

Not knowing what else to do, Kendra clenched the Emerock in her hands and focused. She quickly caused the floor blocks that the three adlets were standing on to suddenly shoot upwards, smacking the beasts into the ceiling.

Once Kendra released her hold on the blocks, they came crashing back down to the floor, along with the three adlets, all of whom appeared to look somewhat beaten up.

"How'd she do that?" asked Xillch, whose voice sounded somewhat slurred.

"Never mind that," said Xipp, raising his claws in the air. "Let's get her!"

"Listen to me," said Kendra. "I have a proposition for you."

"The only thing we want from you is chow time," said Xeero, letting out a fierce growl. "Come out and show yourself."

"That trick I did," said Kendra. "I can do it again."

"But how?" asked Xipp.

"I'm a... _very _powerful fairy."

"Izzat so?" asked Xillch. "Why should we care?"

"Look," said Kendra. "I'm lost. I managed to escape from confinement when Helwic came in for that other fairy earlier. I've tried to escape from this place, but I just can't do it. All I want now is to be put back into confinement."

"Well, too bad," said Xeero. "Why don't you show yourself to us?"

"Because... I'm scared.

"Look, we don't care about you," said Xillch. "If you cause enough trouble, Helwic or Murdred will find out and deal with you."

"Perhaps _you're_ the ones who are scared," said Kendra. "Three tough adlets and you can't even deal with _one_ measly fairy?"

"Any fairy who can grow to full size, turn invisible and slam us into the ceiling, and in the Demon Domain to boot, can't be all that measly!" said Xipp.

"You think she's one of them fairy angels?" asked Xeero.

"We don't got no fairy angels here," said Xillch.

"I am not a fairy angel," said Kendra. "Look, just help me get back to where I belong, and I'll leave you three alone. Or else."

Kendra then used the Emerock's power on a section of the ceiling, causing it to come crashing down on to the adlets' heads.

"Fine," muttered Xipp. "Helwic always does a headcount of those fairies every so often. If she sees that one is missing, we'll be the number one suspects, since we're the only other ones who have access to the oubliette."

"Come with us," said Xeero. "Man, I can't believe that one stupid fairy could give us so much trouble."

The adlets proceeded to walk back down the hallway, towards the stairs. Kendra followed along behind them.

"You still with us?" asked Xillch.

"I'm right here," said Kendra, as they began to walk down the stairs. "And this whole thing better not be a trap."

"Of course it's a trap!" said Xeero. "But don't take it out on us! _You're_ the one who asked us to escort you there."

"Well, we know that there's nothing you can do to help the other fairies," said Xipp. "Even if we open the door to let you in, none of the fairies inside would be bold enough to leave. Outside of that protected prison, they'd parish within minutes."

"So, what makes _you_ so special?" asked Xillch.

"I... I told you. I'm more powerful than most other fairies. I thought I could make a break for it, but now I have nowhere to go. If I don't get back to my cell, I'll die."

"And Murdred won't like that," said Xipp. "Even if it's not our fault. If Murdred finds out that a fairy has gone missing, he'll get **very** angry."

"If anything, you're doing _us_ a favor," said Xeero. "We get you back to where you belong, and nobody will be none the wiser."

"We'll keep this whole thing our little secret," said Xillch. "If Murdred or Helwic don't find out about this, nobody will get mad."

Soon they had reached the first floor of the castle.

"Anyway, the way to the oubliette is over here," said Xeero, signalling for Kendra to follow the three of them as the made their way down a hallway. From what Kendra was able to recall, the hallway did _not_ appear to be the same as the one that supposedly led to the regular dungeon.

The adlets soon entered a spiralling stairwell. Kendra followed them down it. It seemed to go down a lot deeper than the one that went down to the dungeon.

"You must be _really_ desperate to be giving up like this, fairy," said Xeero, once they emerged in what appeared to be a tunnel, which appeared to have been bored out of the ground.

"I can't keep anything a secret from you guys," said Kendra.

The adlets guided Kendra through the tunnel, which appeared to be quite lengthy and maze-like. Hopefully, the adlets knew where they were going. The tunnel seemed to be going even deeper and deeper as they progressed through it.

After one final turn, the adlets brought Kendra to an iron door within a dead end.

"Okay," said Xipp. "This is your stop. The oubliette."

"Open," said Xeero, prompting the door to swing open.

"Come on," said Xillch. "We got you this far. Now go inside and don't try any funny stuff."

Kendra hesitated for a moment. This place was a prison. If she went inside, how was she going to get out? And what good was leaving the door open going to do?

"Now!" said Xipp.

The fairies wouldn't even escape with the door open. Kendra needed more time to think, but she was under too much pressure!

"Get in there!" shouted an adlet who had slipped behind Kendra. Kendra suddenly felt herself getting picked up from the rear by a set of large claws. Before she could react, Kendra found herself getting tossed through the doorway. She closed her eyes as she ended up landing face first on the metal floor.

Down, but not out, Kendra found herself stumbling to get up. Behind her, Kendra could hear the adlets laughing. Suddenly, their laughter was drained out by the slamming of the oubliette's iron door.


	25. Imprisoned

**Chapter 25: Imprisoned**

Feeling weary after having been tossed onto the floor of the oubliette, Kendra mustered just enough strength to get up onto her knees.

Kendra could hear a multitude of tiny voices muttering amongst themselves nearby. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see roughly two dozen fairies, all of whom were fluttering around before her.

"Who are you?" asked one of the fairies.

"Are you some sort of fairy?" asked another.

Kendra shook her head. "Not... exactly."

"Well, who are you?" asked a lavender fairy, who flew directly up to Kendra's face. Kendra squinted her eyes shut, not so much out of fear, but out of irritation.

"She's giving off... light energy," said another fairy, who had perched herself atop Kendra's head.

Before Kendra could react, pretty well every fairy had planted themselves somewhere upon Kendra's body.

"What are you doing?" asked Kendra.

"Your light energy," said a fairy. "How is this possible?"

"Would you please get off of me? All of you."

"We're sorry," said one of the fairies, as they all flew down and landed on the floor in front of Kendra.

Now that the fairies were all standing still on the floor before her, Kendra could see the fairies more clearly. They came in a multitude of colors, almost as though they were a sample of fairies from place like her home at Fablehaven.

"Please, would you mind showing us yourself?" asked a fuchsia fairy."

"Oh, sorry," said Kendra, as she removed the invisibility gloves that she had been wearing, allowing her body to come back into view. The fairies all stared at her in amazement.

"Would you please tell us who you are?" asked a fairy with aquamarine hair.

"Well..." said Kendra. "My name is Kendra Sorenson. "I am the Fairy Queen's personally-chosen handmaiden."

"Really?" asked a lime-green fairy. "I don't know why, but it feels hard to doubt you. You really know the Fairy Queen?"

"Knew her. You see, the Fairy Queen, the original one, that is, is no longer with us."

"She.. can't be dead..." said an orange fairy. "Can she?"

"Nobody is certain," said Kendra. "But for now, her daughter Brillia has assumed the Fairy Queen's position in her absence."

"Our Queen," said a scarlet fairy. "We had no idea. A moment of silence for her majesty."

Kendra watched as all the fairies lowered their heads down and closed their eyes, prompting her to do the same. Even though she had already gotten over mourning the Fairy Queen, she respected the views of the fairies that were here.

"Okay," said one of the fairies, prompting Kendra and all the others to open their eyes.

"So you really _are_ the Fairy Queen's handmaiden?" asked an amber-haired fairy.

"That's correct," said Kendra.

Kendra watched as all of the fairies kneeled before her and bowed. "Hail Kendra Sorenson!" they all chanted.

"Look, I must ask," said Kendra. "Can somebody tell me what exactly this place is?"

"This place?" asked the orange-haired fairy from before. "It is a prison for fairies. And it is impenetrable to our magic.

"Is that so?" asked Kendra. "Well, I happen to have something powerful that doesn't rely on fairy magic."

The fairies all watched as Kendra removed the Emerock from her bag. She then held the relic up for all of them to see.

"What is that?" asked a blue fairy.

"It's the Emerock," replied Kendra. "And it's our ticket out of this place."

Before any of the fairies could ask another question, Kendra attempted to use the Emerock's power to burst open the door behind her. But it wouldn't so much as budge. That was when it hit her. The Emerock didn't seem to work on metal! It was just as ineffective as it had been on the doors to Murdred's throne room.

"What's wrong?" asked a fairy.

Kendra began to look around the room. Not only was the door made of iron, but so were the walls, floor and ceiling.

"Is this whole room made of iron?" asked Kendra, who saw that it was roughly the size of Seth's bedroom back at Fablehaven.

"Pretty well," replied one of the fairies. "It's what suppresses our magic."

"And unfortunately, it also works against what I had been hoping would allow us to escape," said Kendra, putting the Emerock back into her bag.

"However, it does sustain us with light energy," said a fairy. "But not a significant amount. It's barely enough to keep us alive."

Kendra then noticed something in the two far corners in the room. Had she not been so flustered and distracted by all of the fairies, she probably would've noticed them a whole lot sooner. In each of the corners sat a creature, both of which were curled up and presumably sleeping. One was red, the other one purple.

For some inexplicable reason, Kendra found herself drawn towards the red creature. Once she had approached it, she saw that it was a actually a red unicorn. Sporting a pearly horn and a hot pink mane, the unicorn was squatting in the corner, apparently fast asleep.

"A unicorn?" asked Kendra, who couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I've never seen a true unicorn before. The only ones I know of are actually fairy angels."

"Fairy angels?" asked a fairy.

"Well, I am in line with the royal fairy family. And they're exactly who I'm talking about. I don't know any other unicorns aside from them."

"I guess it's worse than we thought," said a fairy with navy blue hair. "I guess there must not be many unicorns left out there."

"Well, there's _two_ in here," said Kendra, as she walked over to what appeared to be the purple unicorn, who was also sleeping.

"Windshear is not a unicorn," said a fairy, as Kendra stopped before the unicorn. She then notice that this second figure lacked a horn.

Before Kendra could ask anything, she then noticed that the purple _horse_ sported a set of feathery wings on its back.

"Is that a... flying horse?" asked Kendra, her face aghast with shock. "I've never so much as even seen one of those before in any form."

"He's a pegasus, actually," said a pink fairy.

"Why are they sleeping?" asked Kendra. "Both the unicorn and pegasus?"

"They're very lethargic. See, creatures like these should never be cooped up. So they lack any real activity and just lie around most of the time. Poor things. It's not their fault."

Kendra looked down at the pegasus. It although its wings were presently tucked-in, Kendra could only imagine what they looked like when they were spread out. The pegasus also sported a bright blue mane and tail.

"Windshear, is it?" asked Kendra.

"Correct," said a fairy. "And the unicorn is Stargleam."

"Why aren't they interested in me? Are they not creatures of light?"

"They are," said a fairy. "But even in your presence, they're just too sad to care."

"We need to get all of you out of this place," said Kendra, as she ran her hand down Windshear's mane. The pegasus paid Kendra no acknowledgement of her actions.

"But how?" asked a fairy. "Even if we could get out of this dungeon, we have nowhere to go. The oubliette is our only protection against the darkness of the Demon Domain. We wouldn't last long out there."

"And we can't even get the door to this place open," added another fairy. "And no offense, but I don't think even you're powerful enough to open it either."

"I take it none of you can open a portal back to the mortal world."

The fairies all shook their head. "We can't even open this door that's in front of you. And with the magic that keeps it sealed, a human being such as yourself probably lacks the power to open it as well."

A thought then hit Kendra's mind. "Perhaps I can open it. You see, I'm fairykind, which is why I can converse with you and why I radiate light energy. But, with the help of fairies like you, I can also become fairyprime."

"Fairyprime? What's that?"

"Well, it's a form I can assume if enough fairies grant me their power. When I'm fairyprime, I become very powerful and can ward off even the strongest forces of dark magic. And believe me, no stupid door is going to get in my way."

"How do you become fairyprime?"

"Well, I need to be granted the power to do so by other fairies. There's quite a few of you here, so perhaps it'll be enough to do the trick. Or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," began Kendra. "All of you fairies are just that. Minor fairies. None of you are fairy angels, or even fairy guardians. And on top of that, all of your powers are greatly hindered in this place. I'm not sure if all of your combined power would be enough to allow me to achieve fairyprime."

"But, what if we could?" asked another fairy.

"If it enabled me to become powerful enough, then yes. I would become fairyprime. Of course, I've never tried doing it in the Demon Domain, so I don't know how well it would work."

"Well, we need to at least try," said one of the fairies. "I don't know what it is about you, but you seem... worthy to us."

"Okay," said Kendra. "All you fairies need to do is lend me your power. If it's enough, I'll become fairyprime."

"We'll try it," said a fairy.

At that moment, all of the fairies flew up into the air, and surrounded Kendra in a circle. Kendra watched as the fairies in front of her all turned into glowing balls of energy of various colors. At that point, the energy balls all flew into her body from every direction, and Kendra could feel as she absorbed each and every one of them.

Kendra felt strange. There was indeed fairy energy flowing through her body. But she didn't feel significantly stronger for it. Wings had failed to sprout out from her backside. She examined a lock of her hair, and saw that it was its usual light brown, rather than rainbow streaks.

"Oh no," muttered Kendra. "It didn't work. All of your combined power just isn't enough."

Kendra looked over at Stargleam and Windshear, then walked over towards the unicorn. "Please. I need your help to become fairyprime."

The lazing unicorn ignored Kendra's plea for help. Instead, it appeared to be uninterested moving from its very spot.

"Please! If you help me, I can get both of you out of here!"

Stargleam gave Kendra no response. A moment later, Kendra could feel as all of the fairies who had entered her body all shot back out.

"We must admit defeat," said a fairy. Neither Stargleam or Windshear have sufficient light energy within them. If even they were to lend you their power, I doubt it would help very much."

"I suppose you have a point," said Kendra. "When you fairies lent me your power, I didn't feel nearly as strong as I normally do when I become fairyprime."

"Well, it would appear that you are now trapped in here along with us."

"It's not what you think," said Kendra. "The whole reason I gave myself away was to find this room. Unfortunately, it lent to me getting imprisoned in here with the rest of you."

"Where did you even come from?" asked a fairy.

"I'm from the Fablehaven preserve."

A few of the fairies chattered amongst themselves. Kendra could hear them say things along the lines of _I've heard of that place_, but none really identified with it.

"No offense, but are you fairies not familiar with Fablehaven? Where are you all from, anyway?"

"Well, all of us are originally from the Fairy Kingdom," said yellow fairy. "Of course, we migrated into the mortal world by way of fairy shrines. Unfortunately, as the years passed, each and every one of us got captured."

"Captured?" asked Kendra.

"Yes. By the adlets Xipp, Xeero and Xillch. They came to the mortal world to kidnap stray fairies just so that Demoric and Helwic could experiment on us for Murdred. Or even Gorgrog, for those of us who've been here that long. They locked us up in this oubliette, giving us barely enough food to survive on.""

"And what about Stargleam and Windshear?" asked Kendra, looking over at the melancholy unicorn and pegasus."

"They were just as unfortunate as the rest of us," replied a fairy in a solemn tone. When they come to the mortal world, the adlets travel to wherever they can detect strong readings of light energy. Usually, if they find anything at all, it's just one of us fairies. However, there has been the odd exception.

"What about you?" asked a green fairy. "You told us that you come from a preserve called Fablehaven?"

Kendra nodded. "Well, it's a hidden preserve, but at this point, I don't see what harm I could cause by telling you all that. Many of you are unfamiliar with it, because it was established in the year 1689.

Kendra proceeded to tell all of the fairies about how she came to be at Fablehaven. She told the fairies all about her friends, family, and all of the adventures that she had gone on.

"That sounds incredible," said one of the fairies. "But, how did you ever find out about where we were?"

"My brother Seth found out for me. When he was last captured by Helwic and taken to Murdred, Helwic presented to him a fairy, who was allegedly being held prisoner in the castle."

"It had to have been Amaranth," said a fairy. "Helwic came for her very recently, and she has yet to return."

Kendra sighed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see it for myself, but I have reason to believe that Amaranth was destroyed by Murdred."

The fairies all looked down at the floor in response. "It is as we feared," said a fairy. "Now Amaranth is no longer among us. At least now, she has gone to a better place.

The loss of Amaranth made Kendra angry. Even though she already knew about the fairy, the fact that she was now learning of her identity and friends only made her hate Murdred even more. He only killed Amaranth out of spite. She as an individual had done nothing wrong; any fairy in her shoes would have suffered the same fate. Seth had said that Amaranth had been chosen due to her pink coloration, simply because Murdred loathed the color.

"I'm so sorry about Amaranth," said Kendra. "But, there was nothing that I, Seth, or anybody really, could have done at that point."

"Well, I suppose it wasn't a total loss," said one of the fairies. "Because you were able to rescue your brother. he in turn was able to tell you about us. Unfortunately, that information came at a high price."

"That information alone was not enough," said Kendra. "All Seth found out was that this room was _somewhere_ in the castle. We didn't know where to start looking, and it's not like it's easy for us to go snooping around this place."

"So how did you find where we were?"

"Well, when I got stranded in the castle, I tricked the adlets into leading me here. I thought that maybe I would have the ability to rescue you. But my plan backfired, and here I am, stuck as a prisoner like the rest of you. And worst of all, nobody knows that I'm here, or where _here_ even is."

Kendra then sat down against one of the walls. Cold and hard, the iron wall was not comfortable by any means. She had no way of contacting anybody for help. Who knew how long it would take for somebody to find her, if they ever would find her at all.

"I give up," said Kendra, as she started to cry into her hands. "I thought I could escape from this place by finding you fairies. But we can't! We're too weak! I failed."

"Please don't cry," said one of the fairies. "It makes us feel sad."

"I'm sorry," sobbed Kendra. "But I'm trapped in here and I have no way of getting out!"

"How do you think we feel? All of us have lost our freedom too."

"I'm so stupid," said Kendra. "I had the chance to become the new Fairy Queen when Sylvia was proclaimed missing. I should've taken it. I'd have transformed into a grand unicorn if I did. Surely then I'd have the power to get out of here. But _noooo_! I had to turn down that offer like an idiot and remain fairyprime. A lot of good that decision is doing for me now."

"Being fairyprime, asked a fairy, "what _are_ you capable of?"

"Quite a bit," replied Kendra, wiping away her tears. "Of course, nothing that'll help me get out of here."

Kendra got up and walked over to the door. There was no handle on this side, nor was there any sort of window to gaze out of. This feeling of isolation must've been compatible to when Warren was trapped in the knapsack.

"Have you fairies made any effort to escape from here?"

"Plenty," said a fairy. "We tried for years. Until we discovered that all of our attempts were a waste of time and strength, so we gave up."

"Even Stargleam and Windshear have tried," noted another fairy. "Back when they were... hopeful. But even they've been unable to break down the door with their raw horsepower."

"And even if we could escape," added a third fairy, "we'd still be stuck in the Demon Domain, which is even worse than actually being confined to this room."

"Come here," said Kendra, opening up her arms. Soon all the fairies flew up against her chest. Kendra then wrapped her arms around the fairies, embracing them all in a group hug.

At this point, Kendra could see that Stargleam and Windshear were both looking at her. Although they were still squatting in their corners, this was the first time that either of them gave Kendra any real attention.

"Even if we never escape from here," said Kendra, embracing the warmth of all the fairies in her arms, "at least we'll have... each other."


	26. Malfunk

**Chapter 26: Malfunk**

A considerable amount of time had passed since Seth and his allies had discovered the barrier that was surrounding Murdred's castle. In the interim, the dragons had all flown around the perimeter of the moat, only to discover that it was protected by a complete 360 degree radius.

Not only had they determined that it was impossible to get around the shield, but that attempting to fly over it and onto the roof of the castle was also impossible. From what anyone could tell, the barrier was essentially protecting the the entire castle likes some sort of bubble. The place seemed to be completely impenetrable.

"Oh man," said Seth, staring across the moat at the monstrous castle that stood on the other side. He and the others were standing right by the edge of the moat. "There's no way inside that that place. We can't even cross the moat!"

"Look at it this way," said Warren, attempting to move his hand forward, only for it to be block by the barrier as if it were some sort of invisible wall. "At least we don't have to worry about falling into the moat no more."

"I'm serious! If there's no way for us to get in there, then there's also no way for Kendra to get out!"

"Are you fairies sure you can't possibly disable the barrier?" asked Ingrid. "At least long enough for us to slip past it?"

Bright shook her head. "Unfortunately no. If we could, we would've done that as soon as possible, rather than trying to find a gap somewhere within the barrier."

"What are we going to do?" asked Geminus. "If we've got no way of getting past that barrier, who can?"

"Helwic, I presume," replied Bracken. "And the only one of us who's even inside the castle to do approach her is Kendra. But without any support, she can't possibly overpower a negafae angel like Helwic Especially here in the Demon Domain."

"Hold on a sec," said Seth. "Let's pretend we're Kendra for a moment. So, you find yourself stranded in the castle, and all you want to do is leave. Good new is, your invisible, so nobody will see you."

"You're forgetting the bad news," said Warren. "There's a barrier surrounding the castle. Even if she did make it out of there, she wouldn't get past the moat."

"I really hope Kendra's okay," said Raxtus. "Given the current situation, of course. I know she's probably kept invisible, but if she tried to leave through the door, wouldn't we have noticed if it had opened up."

"Perhaps they, I don't know, actually _locked_ it?" asked Skyfrost.

"There's also that sentry who guards it," said Firesquall. "Invisible or not, he'd noticed if the door was suddenly ajar."

Bright sighed. "This is all my fault. It was my job to look after Kendra. But I blew it. And now we lost her."

"Bright," said Raxtus. "It was an accident. You didn't realize that she wasn't on my back, and we were in danger of being attacked. It could have happened to anyone."

"So what? The point is it happened. And now all of us are suffering for it. Way to go, Bright. You just lost the Fairy Queen's chosen handmaiden. I feel like a disgrace to fairies everywhere."

"Bright..." said Seth.

"I don't want any sympathy. We all do stupid things. And sometimes, there's nothing we can do to rectify those mistakes."

"So what should we do?" asked Clover. "Even without factoring in Kendra's situation, we've got no way into this castle. And the barrier that's protecting us it is just too powerful for us, even if we combined all our power together."

"Well, we can't just abandon Kendra like this," said Warren. "If we don't have the strength among us to get through the barrier, it sounds like we need reinforcements. Maybe we should get out of here and round up some more fairies. A whole platoon of them. Then we can come back here and take care of this lousy barrier."

"It _sounds_ feasible," said Bracken. "Although, it would take some time, and we need to get to Kendra as soon as we can. Also, we'd be putting a lot of fairies in peril if we brought a great number of them into the Demon Domain. What if something were to happen to them?"

"What about the other fairy angels?" asked Ingrid. "They're powerful too. They could handle themselves just as well as you, Bright or Clover."

"That's another concern," added Bright. "Even in a place like this, fairy angels like ourselves can still succumb to the darkness, regardless of their numbers. But still, this is my mess, and I can't let anything stop me from cleaning it up. If we can't get into the castle, we'll go back for more recruits, as risky as it actually is."

"Who are you?" snorted a groveling voice from behind Seth. Everybody turned around and looked at the figure who had startled them.

Standing before the group was a slightly humanoid monster, who stood at roughly seven feet tall. Covered in black fur, it sported long claws and teeth. Also, the monster appeared to closely resembled a skunk, complete with a white stripe running along his fluffy tail. To top it all off, he even boasted a skunky aroma.

"A monster?" gasped Ingrid.

"Are you really fairies?" asked the monster. "I knew something about you smelled foul!"

"What did he say?" asked Bracken.

"Beats me," said Warren. "I don't speak Spanish."

Seth relayed what the monster had said to the others, who no doubt were unable to understand him.

"We don't have time for this!" said Bracken, as he held out his hands, along with Bright and Clover. Raxtus and Geminus also had their guard ready.

"Take it easy!" said the monster. "I don't want any trouble!"

Seth then translated what the monster said.

"We don't have time to be dealing with some stinky monster," said Warren. Even if he knows better than to pick a fight with us. It's very odd behavior for a resident of the Demon Domain to be acting like this. Ask him to explain himself to us,"

Seth complied with Warren's request.

"Look, I'm just... concerned with what's been going on lately," said the monster. "Word is out that Murdred isn't having much success in finding a suitable disciple."

"It's not our problem," said Seth "We just want to get into the castle for another reason. Who are you, anyway?"

"My name is Malfunk. And Murdred is my father."

Everybody's jaw dropped upon hearing what Malfunk had told them.

"Get out of here," said Warren. "He can't be Murdred's actual son!"

"If you're Murdred's son, then why has he been so desperate to find another disciple?" asked Seth.

"I really _am_ Murdred's son," said Malfunk. "You see, Murdred has always strived for what he considers to be an ideal disciple. His first five children were girls, all birthed from different mothers. Of course, Murdred didn't want a female disciple, so all the daughters were executed at birth, along with their mothers. I, however, am Murdred's sixth and only living child."

"I get that the sisters are all deceased," said Seth, "but how come we've never heard of you before?"

"Murdred tried to raise me," said Malfunk. "But I never shared his desire for treachery and conquest. He considered me a disappointment, so I left the castle ages ago. I guess he gave up on trying to find a suitable heir until recently."

"You _are_ pretty strange for a demon," said Seth. "Especially one who was fathered by Murdred."

"Well, I've been pretty fed up with my father as of late. If anybody's going to become his her, it should be me."

"Why are you being so informative? Especially to us?"

"I only came here to see the castle when I heard about all the recent commotion. I wasn't actually expecting to find any fairies here. However, I thought maybe, seeing as how you're fairies, you could help me."

"What kind of help?" asked Seth.

"I'll make you guys a deal. You you want to get inside the castle, yes? Well, I might be able to find a way in, provided you fairies use your power to vanquish Murdred."

Seth thought to himself for a moment. "I don't know about that. "These fairies don't have that kind of power. Especially in the Demon Domain."

"Perhaps," said Malfunk. "But maybe they could take on Helwic, or those lousy adlets."

"In exchange for getting inside the castle? Lead the way."

Seth then explained Malfunk's proposition to his allies.

"You really trust this guy?" asked Bright. "He claims to be Murdred's _son_, in case you forgot."

"He doesn't seem that tough," said Skyfrost. "If he's trying to trick us, Firesquall and I can deal with him."

"We do have him greatly outnumbered," said Bracken. "And we do need to get inside the castle."

"Okay," said Seth. "You've got a deal. You get us inside the castle, and we'll try to fight off any offense."

"Deal," said Malfunk. "Follow me."

Malfunk proceeded to scamper off on all fours, prompting Seth, Warren and Ingrid to all mount themselves on their dragons and follow along. Bright, Clover and Bracken then went into hiding.

"I have a hard time believing this guy," said Ingrid. "First sign of trouble, I say we bail."

"Agreed," said Warren.

After running away from the castle for about two minutes, Malfunk stopped next to a cluster of several large boulders.

"This is lighter than it looks," said Malfunk, as he proceeded to shove aside one of the boulders, which was roughly the size of a car, revealing a hole in the ground. "It's a secret tunnel that rogue monsters dug to sneak into and out of the castle."

"He's just showing this to us?" asked Ingrid. Seth then translated her question for Malfunk.

"I'm desperate," said Malfunk. "So desperate that I'm willing to ask you guys for help. Come on."

"After you," said Seth.

Malfunk nodded, then jumped down into the hole. Tucking in their wings, the dragons all jumped in as well.

Malfunk led the way through the rocky tunnel, which seemed to be heading back in the direction of Murdred's castle, gradually sloping downwards.

"I hope this actually gets us past the barrier," said Geminus.

"Does Murdred not know about this tunnel?" asked Seth.

"I hope not," replied Malfunk. "It goes deep enough underground that it goes under the moat, then comes back up on the other side. Our only hope is that Helwic's barrier doesn't extend underground."

After walking downwards for a considerable distance, the incline came to an end, revealing a straight passage. As they walked through the tunnel, Seth could feel the temperature around him increasing tremendously. The tunnel itself was also giving off an orange hue.

"We must be passing under the lava moat," said Warren. "It's probably directly above us."

"It's _really_ hot in here!" gasped Skyfrost. "I want out!"

"I don't mind the heat," said Firesquall."

"The rest of us do," said Ingrid. "I'm sweating something awful!"

"Hey, if we're travelling underneath the moat, that means we should've bypassed the barrier by this point!" said Raxtus.

"I'm too hot to care," said Seth. "Skyfrost, do us all a favor and cool the place off, would you?"

"No, don't!" gasped Warren, as Skyfrost readied his ice breath. "If you freeze the rock, the sudden drop in temperature could fracture it! If that happened, the lava above us would come gushing down and fry us all!"

The group continued through the inferno, until they had finally reached the other side. Now that they were there, the temperature had also dropped considerably, and was back to being its relatively normal self.

Now that the temperature was bearable again, Seth was quick to notice just how heavily he had been sweating while they had travelled underneath the moat. His face and hair were quite moist, while his shirt was drenched in sweat. As he eyed Warren and Ingrid, he could see that they too were also sweating.

"Whew!" gasped Warren, as he proceeded to wipe some sweat off of his brow. "Am I glad we don't have to go through that every day!"

"Well, at least we're out of that place!" exclaimed Ingrid. "Can Skyfrost cool us off now?"

"It's too dangerous to just unleash my breath on all of you," said Skyfrost. "But I've got a better idea."

Skyfrost then exhaled his breath down the tunnel, coating the walls, floor and ceiling in a layer of frost.

"Much better," said Warren, as they continued through the newly frozen tunnel. "Malfunk, how do you tolerate this heat anyway?"

"You don't," replied Malfunk. "You just learn to put up with it. But it's nice to have a relief like this for a change."

The tunnel soon veered upwards, though it was not too steep for Malfunk or any of the dragons to traverse while on foot. Before long, they had reached a dead end.

"Now what?" asked Ingrid.

"It figures," said Raxtus. "This whole thing was a trap."

"No it's not!" exclaimed Malfunk. "Just shut up and watch."

Malfunk pushed against the far wall, causing it to slide open as though it was a door made out of stone. The tunnel appeared to continue on the other side of the door.

"It's a secret passage," said Malfunk. "Come on."

Everybody then made their way through the door, which Malfunk proceeded to shut behind them.

"Where are we now?" asked Seth.

"In a subbasement of my father's castle," said Malfunk. "But down here, there place is almost like a maze. But I _think_ I still remember the way through. Follow me."

The group then followed Malfunk down this next tunnel.

"Wait a minute," said Ingrid. "If we're technically back in Murdred's castle.."

"Then we have to watch out for Murdred's guards," said Warren. "True. But we knew that coming in here."

Soon Malfunk reached a crossroads, where he instinctively turned down one way and continued onwards, while the group followed behind him. Shortly after, he stopped at another crossroads, but didn't continue forwards.

"Which way, Malfunk?" asked Seth.

"Let me think," snorted Malfunk, scratching his head. "Is it right or left?"

Geminus then poked her head down the left passage. "There's some sort of door down this way. Is it this way?"

"Door?" exclaimed Malfunk, as he took took a gander to his left. Suddenly, his fur shot up in shock, as he jumped and fell onto his back.

"What's wrong?" asked Seth. "Is that not the way."

"Uh, it sure is!" muttered Malfunk, as he got back up onto his feet, and turned to face the other direction. "It's this way then,"

"Hold on a sec," said Warren. "What _is _down the other way?"

"N-n-n-nothing! Just follow me!"

"It sure sounds like Malfunk doesn't want us checking out that door," said Firesquall.

"Yeah," said Skyfrost. "If it really is _nothing_, then it won't hurt to check!"

"I mean it, don't go in there!" exclaimed Malfunk.

"The more Malfunk forbids us, the more intrigued I become," said Seth. "Let's check it out!"

"I said **no**!" growled Malfunk as the group turned down the short tunnel, at the end of which stood an iron door.

Raxtus placed his claw on the door handle, but was unable to so much as budge it.

"Stay out of there!" hissed Malfunk. "I mean it!"

"Why should we?" asked Seth.

"Because... there's a big, scary monster on the other side of that door!"

"It's sealed shut!" said Raxtus, as he tugged on the handle.

"That does it!" snapped Malfunk. He then turned away from the group and proceeded to raise his tail, unleashing a putrid aroma upon the group.

"Eww!" moaned Geminus.

"Gross!" muttered Seth, who felt as though he was going to throw up upon inhaling Malfunk's spray.

"Don't open that door!" screamed Malfunk.

"Why should we listen to you, you big stinker?" asked Warren. "We're opening this door, and that's that!"

"I'm out of here!" growled Malfunk, as he scampered off down the tunnel. "It's not worth it!"

"What's his problem?" asked Ingrid.

"Whatever's on the other side of this door, obviously," said Seth.

"It's no use," said Raxtus. "I can't budge it. It must be sealed by some sort of magic."

"Maybe we can break it," said Warren. "I've got a grenade on me, but I don't know if it'll do the trick."

"I've got an idea!" exclaimed Seth. "Warren, remember how you forbid Skyfrost from freezing the tunnel under the moat?"

"Yeah. Because the intense cold could've damaged the hot tunnel."

"If it could damage the tunnel, why not the door? Firesquall, blast the door with your fire breath!"

"Okay," said Firesquall, as he shot his fiery breath out through his mouth and upon the iron door.

"Full power!" said Seth, as the door suddenly started to glow bright orange. "Okay, stop. Skyfrost, freeze the door!"

"You got it!" said Skyfrost, as he took over from his brother, blasting his ice upon the door. After a moment or so, the door stopped glowing, and was soon covered in a think layer of ice.

"I got it!" said Raxtus. "Now we just ram the door."

Raxtus then charged at the door, smashing it into hundreds of pieces as he passed through into the next room.

"What is this place?" asked Ingrid, as everybody entered the room after Raxtus.

Seth looked around the room. To his surprise, he saw that it contained numerous fairies and... Kendra?"

"Oh my god!" gasped Kendra, who was standing against the far wall next to all of her cellmates.

"Kendra!" screamed Seth. "You're here!"

"How did you ever find me?" gasped Kendra, as she ran over to Seth and hugged her brother, followed by Ingrid and Warren. "You guys stink! But I don't care. You're here!"

"Look at all these fairies!" exclaimed Bright, who had appeared along with Bracken and Clover.

"Are those unicorns?" gasped Clover.

"What is this place?" asked Ingrid.

"It must be that fairy prison!" said Seth.

"I'm sure Kendra can tell us everything," said Bracken. "Right now, we've just got to get out of here! Come on, everybody, you're free now!"

Bracken then used his power to open up a portal.

"Come on," said Kendra. "We're going to Fablehaven!"

Without any hesitation, all of the fairies flew into the portal, followed by Stargleam and Windshear. The rest of the group then proceeded to pass through after them.


	27. New Arrivals

**Chapter 27: New Arrivals**

As they stepped through the portal, Kendra and Seth found themselves passing through from the prison underneath Murdred's castle and emerging on the other side in the yard at Fablehaven. With them were the rest of their allies, along with all of the fairies who had been held captive in the dungeon, as well as Stargleam and Windshear.

A moment later, Bright emerged from the portal. "That's everybody. I hope. "Let's close this thing already!"

Bright then waved her hand, prompting the portal to seal itself behind her.

"Are we..." asked a fairy. "Are we free?"

"This place..." said another fairy. "I don't believe it!"

"What are they saying?" asked Ingrid, who was unable to interpret fairy speech.

More and more of the fairies started cheering in jubilation.

"They're saying that they're happy," said Clover.

The fairies all rose up into the air, and began chanting in a harmony of bell-like sounds.

"The fairies," said Bracken. "They're... ecstatic!"

"The chorus," said Warren, admiring the signing, "it's beautiful."

As the fairies continued to sing, Stargleam and Windshear stepped into the center of the group.

"We didn't forget about you two!" said Seth. "But there's just been so much commotion!" He then took a good look at Windshear. "Eh, what's up with this unicorn. "It doesn't have a horn!"

"That's because one of them isn't a unicorn," said Bright."Are you a... pegasus?"

Windshear nodded, then unfurled his large, feathered wings. The group all admired the beautiful purple plumage in awe.

"I don't believe it," said Bracken, "a real pegasus."

"What's the big deal?" asked Skyfrost. "It's just a horse with wings."

"Pegasi have long been thought to be extinct. It's a miracle that this one is even among us."

"Extinct?" asked Windshear, speaking in a stern, confident voice.

"You... can talk?" asked Kendra, having heard the pegasus utter his first word since she encountered him.

"Of course I can talk," said Windshear. "Up until now, I was just so sad, I was speechless."

"What do you mean _he talks_?" asked Seth. "All I can hear is neighing."

"Me too," added Ingrid.

"Me three," said Warren.

"You'll have to forgive him," said Bracken. "He is speaking in fairy tongue."

"I can speak too, you know," said Stargleam. "Like Windshear, I too depressed to want to talk."

"Stargleam can also speak," said Kendra.

"Well, considering other unicorns can speak, I'm not too surprised," said Seth.

"Hold on a minute," said Windshear. "What's all this talk about pegasi being extinct?"

"Hold everything," said Bright, raising her hands in the air. "I think a proper introduction for everybody is in order. "All of you wait here. I'm going to go and alert the rest of the family that we've returned with some new guests."

Bright suddenly vanished in a cloud of rainbow sparkles. Everybody appeared to be full of question for which they wanted to ask the party. However, they figured it was best for them all to wait for the others to arrive before going any further.

A moment later, Bright had returned from the house, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson, Grandpa, Grandma and Dale.

"My word," said Grandma, as she and the others approached the group. "There really is a pegasus. And a unicorn, too!"

The fairies who had been liberated from the dungeon finally ceased their singing, and instead came down and landed on the ground in front of the group.

"I don't get it," said Mr. Sorenson. "What's all this about?"

The group proceeded to tell the family about their misadventure in the Demon Domain, and how Kendra was accidentally abandoned in Murdred's castle.

"Well, at least Murdred got rid of that Nemenemi character," said Grandpa. "Who knows what kind of havoc she could've wreaked.

"But isn't there still the possibility that he'll just seek out another disciple?" asked Dale.

"Yes, technically," replied Bracken. "That's what has us all so concerned."

"Bright," said Mrs. Sorenson, "you left Kendra alone in Murdred's castle?"

"It was an accident," said Bright. "Kendra's a very close friend to me. I'd never ever do something like that on purpose."

"I understand," said Mrs. Sorenson. "It's a miracle she's still alive."

"What's really a miracle is where I wound up, and how I got out," said Kendra.

"Tell us!" exclaimed Mr. Sorenson.

"Yeah," said Warren. "I think you've got a bit of explaining to do. For all of us!"

Kendra went on to explain that she remembered how Seth told her about the fairy prison that was allegedly in Murdred's castle, and tricked the adlets into taking her there, although it was not her plan to get locked in.

"And we were lucky enough to encounter Malfunk," said Ingrid. "Turns out he's Murdred's very own son, and he's not too thrilled with how he's been treated."

"Murdred... has a son?" asked Grandpa.

"Plus five late daughters," added Clover. "If he's even being truthful. However, whatever his story is, Malfunk did lead us into the castle via an underground passage. By chance, we discovered the prison where Kendra was."

"How can he be Murdred's own offspring?" asked Grandma. "He sounds too... nice."

"He greatly resents the way his father treated him," replied Kendra. "And besides. After learning about Zavarok's true nature, there isn't too much that can surprise me anymore."

We knew something was up when Malfunk begged us not to investigate."

"We were the ones who managed to burst weaken the door!" said Skyfrost, placing a wing around Firesquall.

"Sounds like quite an adventure," said Grandma. "Now I'm intrigued by all of these former prisoners you've found."

"All of them were captured from the mortal world over a course of many years," said Kendra. "Just so that Murdred and his negafae could have test subjects for them to perform experiments on."

"And what about the pegasus?" asked Dale. "And the unicorn?"

"Just like the fairies, they too were captured a long time ago. The pegasus is Windshear, and the unicorn is Stargleam."

"Incredible," said Grandpa. With the exception of the royal fairy family, all unicorns have been thought to be extinct. And that goes double for pegasi."

"They can't all be extinct?" asked Ingrid. "Present company excepted."

"Sad to say, there have been no sightings of unicorns or pegasi in centuries. The royal fairies are one thing, but actual unicorns, those without fairy forms, have not been seen in ages."

"Why not?" asked Seth.

"They were hunted to extinction. As you know, unicorn horns are highly sought after. However, since a unicorn will not shed its horn until it is ready, the only other way to obtain a horn is to surgically remove it. Of course, this procedure is fatal to the unicorn, but poachers didn't care. They wanted their horns right away and hunted their victims to extinction.

The fairies then explained what Grandpa had to say to Stargleam and Windshear.

"That's awful," said Windshear.

"I'm the only unicorn that left?" gasped Stargleam.

"Not quite," said Bracken. "Bright, if you will..."

At that moment, Bracken and Bright both stood before Stargleam and changed into their unicorn forms.

"You two..." said Stargleam. "You must be royal fairies!"

Stargleam proceeded to nuzzle both Bracken and Bright on their snouts.

"I take it this unicorn..." began Seth, "Stargleam is it? She isn't a fairy like Bracken or Bright?"

"That's correct," said Bright. "This form you see now is it. Just a unicorn."

"I can't believe all the other unicorns are gone," said Stargleam, as Bright and Bracken resumed their humanoid forms.

"It's most tragic," said Grandpa. "Unfortunately, unicorns were highly elusive. We were unsuccessful in rounding any of them up into preserves before poachers could get at them. Same with pegasi."

"I think it's safe to say that Windshear here is the first and only pegasi that most of us have ever seen," said Grandma.

"What about all the pegasi?" asked Ingrid. "What happened to them?"

"They too were thought to be hunted to extinction," replied Grandpa. "You see, pegasi naturally bring good luck and fortune to those around them. Alas, this was also their downfall. Poachers would hunt down pegasi and surgically remove their wings. While this procedure was not necessarily fatal, the pegasi who underwent this treatment lost what made them special, and were ultimately no different than ordinary horses. Even the offspring of de-winged pegasi were always born as normal horses."

"That's sick," said Ingrid. "Why would anyone want to de-wing a pegasus? Or any animal for that matter?"

"Pegasi possess magical properties in their wings. They won't let you fly, but legend says that if you grind up the entire wing of a pegasus, you can then blend it into a one-use potion. A potion brewed from the right wing, if drunk, would bring the user innumerable friends for life. The left wing produced a potion that brought the drinker good luck for the rest of their life."

"Even though a single pegasi provided two unique potions," said Grandma, "it's highly unlikely that

most people ever drank both of them. They were shared in an effort to spread the wealth, so to speak. Of course, there may have been people who were greedy enough to drink both. Presumably the same people who poached pegasi in the first place."

"It's horrible what some people have done," said Kendra.

"Are we really the last of our kinds?" asked Stargleam.

"Unless we somehow manage to discover more unicorns or pegasi out there somewhere, then yes," said Bright. "Until today, we didn't know that any of them still existed."

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Windshear. "As the last ones of our kind, not only are our species in danger of dying out, but we don't even have anywhere to go."

"Correction," said Clover. "You don't have to go anywhere."

"What do you mean?" asked Stargleam.

"You're standing within the Fablehaven preserve," said Bright. "It's a safe refuge for magical creatures from the harshness of the mortal world."

"You mean it?" asked Windshear.

"Definitely. Both of you, as well as all of the fairies, are welcome to stay here."

"That's incredible!" said Stargleam, as she gazed around at her surroundings.

"All of you," said Windshear. "We can't thank you enough. I haven't been this happy in well... ever! But at the same time, I'm sad. From what you're telling me, I'm the last pegasus left in existence. My family... My friends... They're all gone now."

"Me too," said Stargleam.

"I'm so sorry," said Kendra.

"Look, it's not your fault," said Bright. "All of this hunting happened ages ago. Long before any of you human were even born."

"That's what upsets me. It was humans like ourselves who hunted these poor creatures to near extinction."

"Kendra, how is that _your_ fault?" asked Grandma. "If there's one thing our family has always strived for, it's to provide a safe haven for magical creatures. If not for earlier generations, there wouldn't even be a Fablehaven."

"What's happened has happened," said Mr. Sorenson. "Look at the dodo. It suffered the same fate. Even though dodos were more than easy enough for people to capture, the point remains that they no longer exist.

"But Stargleam and Windshear. They're sentient creatures with human-like emotions. They're not like ordinary animals."

"Let's just be grateful that these two are even alive," said Bracken.

Seth took a good look at Stargleam's horn, then at Windshear's wings. "I've got a question," he asked. "What's the big deal about pegasi, anyway? No offense or anything, but can't unicorns already fly? Aside from the fancy wings, what makes pegasi so special?"

"Well," said Bright. "Unicorns cannot normally fly. Now they can levitate themselves for a short while, no doubting that. But it's a huge drain on their power."

"If you're asking how Bright and I are capable of flight in our unicorn forms," said Bracken. "It's actually a special ability that royal unicorns can utilize. A normal unicorn, such as Stargleam, could never have flown around the world like we can.

"Also," said Clover, "unicorn magic is innate. They spread their magic unconsciously, as opposed to unicorns who have to channel it through their horns.

"Anyway," said Grandpa. "As long at Stargleam and Windshear are staying at Fablehaven, I want for them to remain within the vicinity of the yard. As for the new fairies, feel free to let them acquaint themselves with the ones who are already here."

"Understood," said Clover. "I think that Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod will be more than happy to show them around."

"Who are they?" asked Stargleam.

"Three young, but respectable fairies who reside here at Fablehaven. They must be off relaxing in the garden, but I'm sure they'll be more than thrilled to help out in any way that they can.

"This place," said Windshear. "It's an enclosure, is it not?"

"Correct," said Bright. "In here, you will be safe from the outside world."

"This yard doesn't seem very large," said Stargleam. "I'm grateful to even be here. But it's not like the wild, where we had expansive landscapes in which we could frolic."

"This preserve is occupied by a multitude of different magical creatures," said Bracken. "And not all of them are friendly. However, by staying in a safety zone, you will be protected from the more hazardous creatures."

"Look at it this way, Stargleam," said Windshear. "It's a lot larger than that cramped cell back in the Demon Domain!"

"I get that this place is a refuge," said Stargleam. "But part of me wishes that it didn't need to be this way."

"Why are you so upset?" asked Kendra. "If I had been in your situation, I'd be hysterical if I wound up at Fablehaven."

"Kendra," said Bracken, "Stargleam and Windshear have been through a lot in their lives. They need time to adjust. Let's give them some space for now."

"How about all of you newcomers follow Dale?" asked Clover. "He'll find Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod, and they can all help you get acquainted with your new surroundings.

Dale signalled for the new fairies to follow him, along with Stargleam and Windshear. He then took off towards the garden and the crowd went along behind him.

"You know," said Seth. "It's kind of ironic. By keeping them prisoners in his castle, Murdred allowed Stargleam and Windshear to survive extinction, as inadvertent as that was."

"Well," said Grandpa. "It's a relief to know that you're all okay. Even after you got trapped in the castle."

"Once again," said Bright, "I'm sorry for the trouble I caused."

"Water under the bridge," said Warren. "Besides, if it wasn't for that little blunder, we never would have found Stargleam, Windshear and all of these fairies."

"But that's what has me worried," said Kendra. "I only got into that room in the first place because Xipp, Xeero and Xillch put me in there. They must know that something suspicious is going on."

"Not only that," said Geminus. "With Malfunk's intrusion into the castle, Murdred will probably deduce that he snuck in, if he doesn't force the information out of him."

"Meaning that they could pinpoint the secret entrance into the castle," said Seth. "And block it off, no doubt."

"The only good thing to come out of this whole affair," said Kendra, "Is that Murdred had Helwic banish Nemenemi to another part of the Demon Domain. So this has bought us some more time, at least until he decides upon another disciple. And who knows how long that could take."

"This whole ordeal just feels... futile to me," said Raxtus. "We clearly are not powerful to stop Murdred within the Demon Domain. Even when we combine our power together. Even if Stargleam were to help us. Why else do we have to keep ourselves hidden every time we go in there?"

"I know, Raxtus," said Geminus. "But we can't just give up."

"What we really need is a different approach to this whole situation," said Bracken. "Even if we can get to Murdred himself, we all know that we lack the power necessary to actually trounce him."

"Our objective hasn't been to kill Murdred," said Bright. "As we all know, that's asking for more than we are capable of. We just want to make sure that his power never escalates to a point where he become unstoppable in a world outside of the Demon Domain."

"Well, how much good is that going to do us, anyway?" asked Skyfrost. "Every time we want to find out what Murdred is up to, we have to traverse our way through the Demon Domain, slip into his castle and overhear whatever he has to say."

"I know," said Warren. "It's a lousy system we've got."

"It would be a lot easier if we could control where exactly our portals leading into the Demon Domain appeared," said Clover. "But the darkness of that realm clashes with out light energy, making it impossible to pinpoint a specific location."

"We wouldn't have to keep running back and forth," said Firesquall. "If we did have the power to defeat Murdred once and for all. You sure Skyfrost and I can't do anything to Murdred with our extreme temperatures?"

"Nothing seems to stop Murdred," said Seth, thinking back to when Warren had blasted the Demon God's head off with a machine gun, and how quickly it re-spawned itself.

"It's time like these I think that we should ask my sister, I mean the Fairy Queen, for assistance," said Bright.

"But Bright," said Bracken, "We can't risk letting Brillia putting herself in any danger. Especially not since the loss of Mother."

"I know, Bracken. But perhaps Brillia can offer us some insight as to how we should handle this problem. It's what Brillia would want. It's what Mother would want. And it's definitely what I want."


	28. A Queen's Decree

**Chapter 28: A Queen's Decree**

After discussing their current situation amongst each other, the family made their way into the house. It was now lunch hour, and everybody who had ventured into the Demon Domain was no doubt starving.

Fortunately, the group did not have to wait long for lunch to be served, due to the fact that Grandma had already prepared a considerable banquet to eat for when the group had returned from their trip. It was by no means a feast, but there were plenty of sandwiches, devilled eggs, salad and sliced-up vegetables for everybody to nosh on.

Once the meal had come to a close, Bright tapped her glass with a spoon. "Attention," she said. "Now that we have finished, I propose that now we visit my sister the queen and seek her advice. Naturally, not all of us need to come, since the visit is just a proposal."

"Let me guess," said Seth. "I can't come."

"It's nothing personal," said Bracken. "It's just that... well... it's easier if we just keep this whole thing simple."

"Man, I hate not getting to go to the Fairy Kingdom," huffed Seth, as he crossed his arms.

"If it makes you feel any better, I probably won't get to go either," said Ingrid, as she placed a hand on Seth's shoulder.

"Thanks, but I know it's because I'm a shadow charmer."

"At least that's _something_. I don't get to go because I'm not special enough."

"Calm down, you two," said Bright. "This whole thing isn't a competition. Besides, we're only going to have a talk."

"Who's going?" asked Kendra.

"Just you, Bracken and myself should suffice."

"Hold on a minute," said Bracken. "I feel that we should bring Stargleam and Windshear along with us. I know that they just arrived here and need some _alone time_. However, I feel that it's important that they meet the Fairy Queen."

"We'll ask them," said Bright.

After finishing up lunch, Kendra, Bracken and Bright all went outside. Using her sensing ability, Bright discovered that Stargleam and Windshear were loitering around Viola's barn. Surrounding them were all eight of the reindeer, along with a large court of fairies.

"Hey, everybody," said Bracken.

"Hi, Bracken!" said all of the fairies, speaking in slow, dreamy voices.

"Stargleam. Windshear. How are you so far?"

"We're pretty good" said Windshear. "But these reindeer think they're so great just because they can fly all over the world in one night! I find that a bit preposterous. They don't even have wings! Sounds a bit farfetched."

The reindeer all shook their heads.

"It's okay," said Bright. "Windshear and Stargleam have been through _a lot_. Take it easy."

"Actually," said Bracken, "we know that now may not be the best moment for this, but the three of us are going to visit our sister, the Fairy Queen. And we were wondering if you two would like to come along and meet her."

"The Fairy Queen?" asked Stargleam.

"Would you?" asked Bright. "It's been so long since any of us have seen a true unicorn or pegasus. It would make her so happy."

"Well..." said Windshear. "It _would_ give us some time away from those reindeer. Not that I mind their presence or anything."

"We've been trapped in that dungeon for an eternity," said Stargleam. "Right now I'd be willing to go anywhere but there."

"Okay, then," said Bracken, as he reached into his pouch and produced the Translocator.

"What's that?" asked Windshear, as he and Stargleam both eyed the artifact.

"The Translocator. It's a powerful device that can send you anywhere you've ever been in an instant."

"Incredible," said Stargleam. "How does it work?"

"It's a kind of magic that even we are unable to properly comprehend. But don't worry. All you two need to do is touch it when we do, and I'll use it to transport us to the Fairy Queen's chamber."

Bracken then twisted the Translocator in his hands and held it outwards.

"Okay," said Kendra, as she placed her hand on the device, "everyone needs to be touching the Translocator for this to work."

"Okay," said Stargleam, as she placed the tip of her horn against the Translocator.

"This feels weird," said Windshear, as he pressed his muzzle against the device, while Bright touched it as well.

"Here we go," said Bracken, as he closed his eyes. A moment later, Kendra could feel herself getting pulled in through the power of the Translocator

Suddenly, the group was now standing in the throne room of the Fairy Queen. Kendra watched as Stargleam and Windshear both gazed around at the gorgeous walls and columns made of crystal that lined the room. Not that she blamed them, for Kendra herself was always impressed whenever she got the opportunity to visit the royal castle.

"Greetings," said Brillia, who was sitting on her throne at the far end of the room. "How are all of you today? I see that you've brought visitors."

"Brillia," said Bracken, as the group proceeded to walk over to the Fairy Queen, "I mean, your majesty..."

Brillia laughed. "It's okay. You may address me as Brillia. You're my brother!"

"Listen, sis," said Bright. "In addition to many missing fairies, Kendra discovered these two when she last ventured into the Demon Domain."

"Unicorns?" asked Brillia. "From the Demon Domain?"

"They're not actually from the Demon Domain," said Kendra. "And one of them is a pegasus."

"A pegasus?" asked Brillia, sounding surprised. "I haven't seen a live pegasus in forever."

"Here I am," said Windshear, as he proceeded to stretch out his wingspan.

Brillia gasped. "Incredible," she said, as she walked up towards the pegasus. "I don't know what it is, but you seem... authentic."

Brillia then stroked Windshear's extended wing, running her fingers along his purple feathers. "I'm definitely sensing something distinct about you. You must be the real deal."

"How much proof do you need?" asked Windshear.

"I apologize. The appearance of a pegasus came as quite a shock to me. And another unicorn too, no less. You liberated these two from a dungeon within Murdred's castle?

"Yeah," said Bracken. "And I don't mean to draw attention away from our newest finds, but we've got a real problem we're dealing with, and we were hoping that perhaps you might be able to provide some insight."

"A problem?" asked Brillia.

"It has to do with Murdred," said Bright.

"I understand. But that goes without saying. What is it about Murdred that has you so concerned?"

"We're not powerful enough," said Kendra. "As long as Murdred remains in the Demon Domain, he's just too powerful for any and all of us to deal with. It's like there's nothing we can possibly do to defeat him."

"Destroying Murdred is of the utmost importance," said Bracken. "He's been making the effort to increase his own power by electing a disciple. He came very close just recently, but ultimately rejected the chosen candidate."

"But so what?" asked Bright. "Murdred's first subject, whom he dubbed _Nemenemi_, was just as much as a hazard to us as Murdred himself. And while Murdred _did_ dispose of her, what's to stop him from finding another potential disciple? Naomi Nemes was just one person. Surely with all the billions of humans occupying the mortal realm, he and Helwic will come across someone else who is just as bad."

"I understand," said Brillia. "The God of the Demons is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. And I know just how disadvantaged light energy truly is within the Demon Domain."

"We've turned to you because you're the most reliable expert on fairy magic and light energy that we know," said Bracken. "Do you think that there's anything you might be able to do to help?"

Brillia rubbed her forehead for a moment. "The trouble with light energy, particularly in a place like the Demon Domain, is that it comes from the heart. And, as we all know, even the noblest heart can potentially succumb to the darkness of that realm."

Brillia's comment made Kendra think back to the time when Bright and Bracken had both transformed into nightmares after spending a considerable amount of time within the Demon Demon. The thought made her cringe.

"What I'm saying," continued Brillia, "is that you are in need of a source of light energy. One which possesses no actual heart that can be corrupted by the darkness of the Demon Domain."

"That doesn't make sense," said Kendra. "Every living thing capable of goodness must have a heart."

"Exactly. Every _living_ thing. What you require is something capable of containing light energy that _isn't_ actually alive."

"Light energy from something that isn't alive?" asked Kendra. "You mean something synthetic? Like Hugo?"

"It's not a direct source of light energy," said Brillia. "Rather a vessel of sorts that is capable of containing light energy. And I've got just the idea! Wait where you are, I will return shortly."

Brillia snapped her fingers, prompting her entire body to vanish in a cloud of golden sparkles.

"What do you think she's referring to?" asked Stargleam.

"Must be some sort of tool," said Bright. "Like a unicorn horn. Even after a horn is removed from its body, it can still be used as a source of magic."

"How barbaric! I'd hate to ever lose my horn."

"I can relate to that," said Bracken.

A moment later, Brillia reappeared in front of the group. In her hand, she was holding what appeared to be a white crystal. Oblong-shaped and slightly larger than a baseball, the gemstone was emitting an abnormally high level of glimmering light.

"What is that?" asked Kendra.

"This is a light crystal," replied Brillia. "It contains solid light energy."

"I... think I've seen something like this before."

"Yeah!" added Bright. "Now I remember! Trask had something like this, only it wasn't as large. It was light fragment!"

"Oh yeah!" said Kendra. "The light fragment! Only that thing was about the size of a french fry. This crystal is a fair bit larger."

"Well, what I have here is a light crystal," said Brillia. "Sounds like that light fragment that Trask had was a smaller cut made from this same kind of crystal."

"Excuse me," said Windshear, "but what exactly is this light crystal thing supposed to do?"

"I was getting to that," said Brillia. "See, while the light crystal contains pure light energy, because it is not part of a living being with emotions, its power should not be impaired within the Demon Domain. I hope."

"And it'd be powerful, too," added Bracken. "Without any hindrances, that light crystal might even be more powerful than a fairy angel within the Demon Domain."

"Maybe even powerful enough to destroy Murdred?" asked Bright.

"It's hard to say," replied Brillia. "For we know not the full extent of Murdred's power. However, if my theorizing is correct, then this light crystal might be just the edge you need to triumph in the Demon Domain."

"I really hope so," said Kendra.

"Wait a moment," said Stargleam. "Why not give us more of these light crystals. If you're not certain that one light crystal is enough, why not try twenty?"

"While additional light crystals would no doubt be a ideal solution to this dilemma," said Brillia, "this is the only one I have. Light crystals are refined from a very rare mineral, and none have been discovered in eons. This one I have here was a heirloom that my mother had been holding onto. I'd hate to have to part with such a thing, but I don't see what other choice we have."

"Brillia," said Kendra, "if this light crystal really is rare, maybe we shouldn't take it."

"Absolutely not. This is just the sort of situation that the light crystal would be best suited for. Besides, as long as nothing bad happens to the crystal, it will still be possible to restore its power at a later time. All it takes to do that is heart."

"That's what worries me. Something very well _could _go bad."

"We might as well go for it," said Bracken. "This thing sounds like the best choice we've got. It could be our ace in the hole the next time we have to deal with Murdred."

"Wait a moment," said Kendra. "All this talk about the light crystal and that fragment that Trask had. I forgot that he had a negative counterpart; a dark fragment. What if Murdred has access to _dark crystals_ of some sort?"

"That would not be good," said Bright. "Of course, we've never caught Murdred or anybody actually using any sort of dark crystal upon us in the past. It's possible that they don't actually have any dark crystals."

"As bad as they are,there is one good thing about dark crystals," said Brillia. "Just like with light crystals, they're also supposedly very rare."

"I'm just concerned that if Murdred realizes that we have a light crystal and manages to get away, it would _convince_ him to get his claws on dark crystals, so that the next time we meet, he'd have the upper hand."

"This is just a risk you'll have to take," said Brillia. "And that includes actually defeating his for good on your very next encounter. Take good care of this light crystal and do your very best."

Brillia then presented the light crystal to Kendra. Not only was lighter than it looked, but holding it in her hands filled her entire body with a soothing, pleasant feeling. It was similar to the sensation she usually felt whenever she and Bracken kissed each other. Nevertheless, Kendra dropped the light crystal into her bag, prompting the feeling to end.

"Thank you," said Kendra. "I guess we should be on our way, then."

Bracken then took a look over at Stargleam and Windshear. "Hold on a moment! Brillia, as long we're here, I have another request for you!"

"What is that, Bracken?" replied Brillia.

Kendra herself also pondered as to what Bracken was inquiring about.

"Would it be possible for you to enchant Stargleam and Windshear with a translation spell? See, both of them communicate in a fairy tongue, but beyond Kendra, none of the humans living at Fablehaven can understand them, and vice versa...

"Say no more," said Brillia. "I'd be more than happy to help. And because they are already fluent in fairy speak, it's not trouble for me to enchant them. Less so than it was for say... the wyverns."

"Really?" asked Windshear. "You can make it so that the we and the humans at Fablehaven would be able to understand each other?"

"Absolutely."

"Hold on a moment," said Kendra. "I get how unicorns are connected to fairies. But what about pegasi? How are they associated?"

"Well..." said Bright. "Much like how unicorns are connected to fairies, pegasi are connected to angels. Not fairy angels like myself or Bracken. But actual angels. Humanoids with feathery wings. And angels are related to fairies. However, unlike fairies, there are no more angels."

"What happened to them?" asked Windshear.

"We're not sure," replied Brillia. "It's not that they were hunted to extinction like pegasi. But whatever the reason, they just... disappeared."

"I've got another question," said Kendra. "Why do you use the term _fairy angel_, anyway?"

"It's a title that we fairies have used to honor the angel race. Likewise, there used to be _angel fairies_, which were the angelic equivalent. Anyway, I think that I might as well go ahead and enchant Stargleam and Windshear already."

The unicorn and the pegasus both stepped up in front of Brillia.

"Okay. This will only take a moment. Get ready."

Kendra watched as Brillia's hands each emitted a golden glowing ball of energy, just like when she was preparing to enchant Skyfrost and Firesquall with the same spell. Next, the two balls went flying out of the Fairy Queen's hands. One flew into Stargleam, the other into Windshear.

"That... didn't feel weird at all," said Windshear.

"Did it really work?" asked Stargleam. "Are we really capable of communicating with human beings now?"

"Just those that speak the English language," replied Brillia. "Humans have so many different languages. And just enabling you two to be able to speak this one is a feat all on its own."

"I guess we'll have to go back to Fablehaven to actually test this enchantment," said Windshear.

"What if it wears off at some point?" asked Stargleam.

"That's what makes this enchantment so special," replied Brillia. "As you speak in another language, you gradually come to understand it on your own, until you naturally become fluent in it, and no longer need the power of the enchantment."

"Hey, why stop with us?" asked Windshear. "Maybe do the same for those reindeer? I mean, they help so many less fortunate people. Just tell them that this was my idea."

"The reindeer at Fablehaven? I'm afraid there really isn't much of anything I can do for them."

"Why not?" asked Kendra. "Why can't you help them?"

"I can cast all the magic I want on those reindeer, but it won't make any difference. Non-magical creatures lack the ability to speak. They can make noises, but it doesn't equate to proper speech."

"But they can fly! And they're _very_ intelligent!"

"Kendra," said Bright, "Those reindeer were just ordinary animals that were enchanted by Santa Claus. Much like how Viola was once a normal cow. And just like the reindeer, she too is incapable of speaking."

"I understand," said Kendra. "And your majesty. Or rather, Brillia. Thank you so much for your help."

"You're very welcome. I would do anything to to aid my kin. And my handmaiden. I just hope that this light crystal actually helps."

"We'll make sure to put it to good use," said Bracken, as he pulled out the Translocator. "Come on, everybody, let's get going."

"Goodbye!" said Brillia. "Stargleam, Windshear. It was great to meet both of you!"

Everybody else said goodbye to Brillia, as they proceeded to touch the Translocator. As soon as Bracken twisted the artifact, the group found themselves being pulled through from within the Fairy Kingdom.


	29. Urgency

**Chapter 29: Urgency**

Shortly after Kendra, Bracken, Bright, Stargleam and Windshear had arrived back in the yard at Fablehaven, they quickly met up with the rest of the family, who all came scurrying from out of the house together.

"We've got some good news," said Kendra, as she proceeded to pull the light crystal from out of her bag and held it up for everybody to see.

Stargleam let out a powerful neigh. "Greetings, everyone!"

Seth suddenly dropped his jaw. "The unicorn... Did she just speak?"

"So can I," said Windshear.

"That's... awesome!" exclaimed Ingrid. "I mean, we already went through this for Skyfrost and Firesquall, but this is just as cool!"

"It was Brillia," said Dale. "She gave them this capability?"

Bright nodded. "Yup, our sister has granted Stargleam and Windshear with the ability to converse in English."

"Also, if anybody's still interested, she gave us this," said Kendra, waving the light crystal around in the air.

"What is that?" asked Grandpa. "It looks eerily familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"It's a light crystal," replied Bracken. "And it contains the power we need to defeat Murdred once and for all. Even if he's in the Demon Domain."

"Seriously?" asked Warren. "That crystal will do the job?"

"It's what we're hoping for," said Bright.

"Nice!" said Seth. "The good news just keeps on coming!"

"And because Malfunk was nice enough to show us how to bypass the barrier and sneak into the castle," said Warren, "there's nothing to stop of from heading back there and confronting Murdred. Only this time we'll be the ones who are prepared."

"I'm up for this," said Ingrid. "Sounds like if we can get the drop on Murdred, we might actually be able to defeat him."

"We might want to hurry," said Clover. "Who knows what Murdred might accomplish the longer we take in getting to him."

"Are you saying we should head out now?" asked Seth.

"The sooner, the better," said Grandpa.

* * *

Before long, the group had made preparations for their next venture into the Demon Domain, and had soon met up with the dragons.

"Are all of you ready?" asked Grandpa.

The four riders, as well as their dragons, all nodded in response.

Our energy has been restored, too," said Bracken.

"Excellent," said Grandpa.

"Hold on," said Windshear, "are all of you really heading _back_ into the Demon Domain?"

"How horrific," said Stargleam, "I'll never go back there!"

"Believe me," said Geminus, "none of us _want _to be there. But we do have a way out."

"You know," said Firesquall, "if it hadn't been for our return visits, we never would have found you in that dungeon."

"Why don't you two come with us?" asked Ingrid. "My first trip to the Demon Domain wasn't very pleasant, but that doesn't mean..."

"No!" exclaimed Grandpa, cutting off Ingrid. "I'm sorry but I think that sending Stargleam and Windshear into the Demon Domain is just too much. "Extra help or not, these two are the last of their kind, and besides. They just got here after being imprisoned for so long."

"Yeah," said Stargleam. "The two of us just need settle down already. Please!"

"I understand," said Raxtus. "Ingrid, your intentions were good, but it's better if Stargleam and Windshear remain here at Fablehaven."

"Besides," said Warren. "We've got this whole ordeal under control. Hopefully."

"What's the plan, anyway?" asked Ingrid.

"When we arrive in the Demon Domain, once we get our bearings, we'll make a beeline to Murdred's castle. We slip in through the secret entrance, make our way up into the castle, and locate Murdred. Once we do that, Kendra can assault him with the light crystal, which will hopefully destroy him."

"Sounds good," said Kendra, who could feel her heartbeat accelerating.

"Let's do this," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Skyfrost's back. Likewise, his allies got up onto their dragons' backs as well.

"Here we go," said Bright, as she used her magic to conjure up a portal.

"Good luck!" shouted Grandma, as the group proceeded to enter the portal, passing through from the surrounding of Fablehaven to a region of the Demon Domain.

The first thing that alerted Kendra and Seth was rainfall. Upon arriving in the Demon Domain, the group had been hit by a torrential downfall, which completely soaked them within seconds.

"Where are we?" asked Ingrid, as she wiped her wet bangs away from her face.

"You should know the drill by now," said Warren. "Somewhere in the Demon Domain."

"What's with all this rain?" asked Seth, trying to get an idea of his surroundings. They appeared to be in a large, rugged field with no distinguishable landmarks in any direction. The sky was filled with a solid layer of grey storm clouds.

"I guess the Demon Domain doesn't have much in the way of bodies of water," said Bracken. "Seems like most its water is either hidden from sight, or floating around in a vaporous form."

Suddenly, the group was alerted by a lightning bolt shooting down from the sky, followed by a crash of thunder.

"Okay," said Clover. "No need to panic. It's just thunder and lightning. Donner and Blitzen are German for thunder and lightning, and they're such friendly reindeer, aren't they?"

"Nothing to worry about," said Skyfrost. "That was a joke compared to Revlogg."

Suddenly, another lightning hit the ground in another direction.

"Wow," said Raxtus. "Something tells me this place must get some nasty storms."

"Well, storm or no storm, we need to get to Murdred's castle," said Bright. "Wherever it is."

"Guess this is the part where you fairies do your hiding thing," said Ingrid.

"You got that right," said Clover. "But this time, we've got something for you."

Clover, Bright and Bracken all snapped their fingers. The next thing they knew, Kendra and Seth were both wearing raincoats over their usual clothing, as were Warren and Ingrid.

"These should help against the rain," said Bracken, as lightning struck again in the distance.

"You got anything for protecting us from the lightning?" said Warren. "I know these are made of rubber, but still..."

"Good luck," said Clover, as she, Bracken and Bright all vanished.

"Guess we just have to get a move on," said Kendra, as she climbed up onto Raxtus' backside, which was tricky due to her raincoat, as well as the water that was dripping down his scales.

Once everybody was mounted on their dragon, the four reptiles all extended their wings and took up, flying upwards against the rain that was pouring down. Before long, the dragons were flying considerably high above the ground, while raindrops and lightning bolts continued to fall down from the clouds.

"This is crazy," said Kendra. "Every few seconds there's lightning!"

"I just thought of a game," said Seth. "Let's see how many times in a minute we can detect when lightning strikes."

"I've got a better game," said Kendra. "It's called _quit goofing off and look out for Murdred's castle_."

"It's hard to concentrate," said Geminus. "With all of this rain and lightning, I can't get a proper feel for where Murdred's castle might be."

"Well, we'll just have to persevere," said Warren.

The dragons continued to fly through the storm for several minutes, which show no sign of letting up. All of a sudden, Kendra began to feel feint.

Raxtus let out a loud roar.

"What was that?" asked Seth, as Raxtus began to dwindle downwards in a tailspin, with Kendra still on his back.

"Kendra!" shrieked Ingrid.

"Raxtus!" cried Geminus.

Raxtus grunted, but managed to regain his flight while in mid-fall.

"Raxtus," said Kendra, once Raxtus was flying forward again. "What happened? I felt so... weak."

"You felt that too?" asked Raxtus.

"Are you all right?" asked Seth, as the rest of the group flew down to Kendra and Raxtus' current level.

Suddenly, Kendra could see a large figure flying through the rain towards them.

"What is that?" asked Firesquall.

"Might've been whatever just struck Kendra and myself," said Raxtus.

"Look out!" shrieked Warren, as blast of black energy shot out from the approaching figure.

Before any of them could get hit, the four dragons all evaded the incoming energy shot, and flew away from the approaching figure.

"What was that?" asked Ingrid, as the figure shot more dark energy towards the group.

"Let's go check this out," said Seth, encouraging Skyfrost to fly around closer to the figure.

Through all the rain, Seth saw that the figure appeared to be a large wildcat with bat-like wing. Sitting atop the back of the cat was some sort of humanoid figure with a completely black body that was hard to make out.

Before Seth could think, the figure held up her hand and attempted to shoot Seth with another energy blast. Fortunately, Skyfrost was fast enough to escape the incoming attack.

"What is that thing?" asked Skyfrost.

"I don't know about that cat thing. But the rider..." Seth then cupped his hands together. "Are you... Nemenemi?"

"I am!" hissed the humanoid figure. "And I'm going to destroy you!"

"Oh yeah?" asked Skyfrost, as he swerved away from another attack. "Deal with _this_!"

Skyfrost then unleashed his icy breath at Nemenemi, as well as the creature she was riding. However, the blast appeared to do nothing whatsoever to phase them.

"You think a little cold air can stop me?" asked Nemenemi, as she retaliated by attempting to shoot Seth and Skyfrost again.

Suddenly, a stream of fire went flying directly at Nemenemi and whatever it was that she had mounted herself on.

"Yeah!" cried Seth. "Way to go, Firesquall!"

A moment later, the fire inexplicably bounced away from Nemenemi and continued in a stream, which nearly collided with Seth and Skyfrost.

"You are all _fools_!" snapped Nemenemi, as the fire stopped. "You cannot possibly defeat me!"

Without any warning, Nemenemi proceeded to blast more beams of darkness out in various directions, some of which came fairly close to hitting the dragons.

"Oh no!" gasped Ingrid, as Geminus continued to swerve around in the air. "We have to stop her!"

"But how?" asked Firesquall. "Even our elemental attacks aren't working, and I'm willing to bet weapons won't help much either."

"The Emerock wouldn't help, even if we were on the ground," said Warren. "And the Sapphazure has its limits."

"Raxtus," said Kendra. "Geminus. What about expelling your light energy upon Nemenemi?"

"Lot of good it would do," said Geminus. "It's hindered greatly in the Demon Domain."

"Well, we'd better do something!" exclaimed Seth, as Skyfrost narrowly dodged another beam of darkness.

"Kendra's got that light crystal, yes?" asked Skyfrost. "Try using that!"

"But we need its power to stop Murdred!" exclaimed Kendra. "If I waste its power on Nemenemi, we won't have enough left for Murdred!"

"If we don't do something about Nemenemi," said Warren, "we won't make it to Murdred!"

"Well, we can't fight her in this storm!" exclaimed Seth.

"Then let's land," said Raxtus, as he swooped downwards, prompting his comrades to follow along behind him.

"You can't escape me!" roared Nemenemi. Seth looked back and saw that she and her creature were both hot on the group's tail.

Before long, Raxtus came down upon the ground and made a landing, as did the other dragons.

"What are we stopping for?" asked Ingrid, as Nemenemi continued to approach the group.

"Bright!" exclaimed Kendra. "Open a portal. Please!"

Bright suddenly appeared next to Kendra, but by that point, Nemenemi's creature had landed just a few feet next to them. Bracken and Clover also appeared by Bright's side.

"I think it's too late for that," said Seth, worrying that Nemenemi would follow them through the portal.

Now that they were standing still, Kendra and Seth took a good look at Nemenemi. Her appearance was only vaguely humanoid at best, like some sort of black minotaur. Her hair had been replaced by flowing horns, and her eyes were glowing red.

The creature that Nemenemi was riding seemed to resemble a monstrous lioness with bat-like wings. However, it clearly too big to be an actual lion.

"That thing," said Warren. "It's a manticore."

"You idiots are going to be sorry," said Nemenemi, as she held out her hands. "Now I'm free destroy you!"

"Hold on!" exclaimed Bright. She then snapped her fingers, causing a pole to appear in her hands. Flailing on the tip of the pole was a white flag.

"A white flag?" asked Nemenemi. "What is this all about?"

"I want a truce," said Bright. "You don't attack us. We don't attack you."

The manticore snarled at the group.

"Easy, girl," said Nemenemi, as she stroked the beast with a wretched-looking hand. "I wasn't even interested in you losers. I want my revenge on Murdred."

"That's funny," said Warren. "We're also after Murdred. He certainly seems to be a popular guy today."

"Don't try to humor me. Murdred offered me power, but did I get anything out of it? Nooooo. Just because I'm a girl! How can anybody be so sexist? It's sickening! I mean, what is that guy's problem? Is he insane?"

"Hold on," said Kendra, pretending that she didn't witness what she had seen earlier. "What exactly has happened between you and Murdred?"

"Okay," said Nemenemi. "Back at home, I get approached by this so-called negafae Helwic. She offers me power if I come with her to another world. So I think, sure, this has to be a joke. So I follow Helwic through this portal, which I of course suspect is just some joke she's playing on me. But no, it turns out that this portal really does transport me to this Demon Domain, which is full of all these wicked monsters! And right when I'm brought to Murdred, you guys show up and try to stop us. Of course, you guys are so pathetic, that you have no choice but to retreat. So, with you guys gone, Murdred tries to make me reach an agreement with him. But he's so stubborn! He wants me to become his disciple, just so that he can have access to another negafae angel. And I'm like... no! This is supposed to be my negafae!"

Kendra and Seth both glanced at each other. Why couldn't Nemenemi just shut up? Her incessant talking had to be a trait she had developed back when she was Naomi.

"So Murdred gets so fed up with me, he has Helwic banish me to some strange part of the Demon Domain. Fortunately, I attracted the attention of this manticore here. And with her help, I intend to find my way back to Murdred's castle, so that I can deal with that goddamn blowhard!"

"So why fight us?" asked Seth.

"What do you think I am?" asked Nemenemi. "Stupid? I _know_ that you people and Murdred are enemies. Already I don't like you. And if Murdred is taken out of the picture, then I'll be free to assume his position. In which case you'll just be coming after me instead!"

Nemenemi then clenched her hands together, and started to emit a dark glow within her fists. "I should destroy you right here, right now!"

"Don't!" exclaimed Bright, waving the flag that she was holding. "This is a ceasefire!"

"I don't care for any stupid rules! I'll blast every last one of you if I have to!"

"We had a deal!" exclaimed Clover.

"You can take your deal and shove it up your ass!" snapped Nemenemi.

"Cool it," said Bracken. "Forget about us for a second. How do you intend on even defeating Murdred?"

"I'll find a way. Because of that elixir I drank, Murdred believes that my power is accelerating at a phenomenal rate. And if I was able to endure all the attacks you've thrown at me so far, I think I can handle Murdred. He doesn't seem so tough. If defeating him will grant me dominion over the Demon Domain, I'll go right ahead. And you fairy freaks aren't going to stop me!"

"We don't _want _to fight you," said Warren.

"As fairies," said Bright, "we prefer non-violent ways of settling our differences."

"You fairies sounds like a bunch of wimps."

"Enemies or not, its foolish for us to be fighting," said Raxtus. "If we fight each other, we'll only wear ourselves down, and we'll have a hard time dealing with Murdred. Like it or not, Nemenemi, you have no method of healing yourself now, do you?"

Nemenemi grumbled to herself. "I suppose you've got a point. Very well. I've just thought of a compromise."

"What's that?" asked Seth.

"I don't like you, and you don't like me. But neither of us actually know where Murdred's castle even is. So I say we just go our separate ways and forget we ever saw each other."

"What about Murdred?" asked Kendra.

"Whoever finds Murdred first gets to fight him. I don't care if its you guys who find him, since I'll no doubt run into later on at some point. And I'm pretty confident that I'll be even more powerful then, and will be able to just destroy you even more easily than I could right now. So go ahead. Find Murdred. Destroy him! It'll only make things easier for me in the long run!"

The manticore proceeded to flap its wings, then took to the air and flew off into the thunderstorm.

"Whoa," said Ingrid, "did you see her? She barely even looked like a human."

"How could I _not_ see her?" asked Seth.

"At least she didn't actually hurt us," said Geminus. "I was sensing a serious threat coming from Nemenemi."

"At least she's gone for now," said Warren. "Let's just focus on find Murdred and defeating him. Nemenemi may be powerful, but she lacks experience. We can worry about her later."

Bracken, Bright and Clover all disappeared. Following that, the dragons all stretched out their wings and proceeded to fly up against the rain, soaring in the opposite direction that Nemenemi had gone in.


	30. The Demon Hunters

**Chapter 30: The Demon Hunters**

Heavy rain continued to pour down upon Kendra, Seth and the rest of their allies as they flew across the Demon Domain. Likewise, the roar of thunder kept on blaring in the distance, showing absolutely no sign of letting up.

"Do you really think that Nemenemi actually could've defeated us back there?" asked Seth, as he wiped some excess raindrops off of his brow.

"Hard to say," said Raxtus. "I _was _sensing a strong reading of darkness emanating from her body."

"Part of me was just tempted to whip out the light crystal on her and find out what it could've done," said Kendra.

"As nice as that would've been," said Warren, "part of me is relieved that you didn't have to resort to that. That light crystal practically has Murdred's name on it."

"As long as we didn't exhaust our energy fighting Nemenemi," said Raxtus, " I can't really complain either way."

"What's with all of this rain?" asked Ingrid. "You think somebody like Murdred or Helwic could be causing it?"

"Hard to say," replied Geminus. "There doesn't seem to be anything particularly bad about it, although it is pretty heavy."

"I'll say," said Firesquall. "Skyfrost and I grew up in the clouds. Some storms could get pretty rough, but not very often."

"What's happening now in the Demon Domain might even be a regular occurrence for this place," said Skyfrost.

"So what about the rain?" asked Seth. "As long as it's not hindering our progress, I could care less about it."

"Relevant or not," said Warren, "it might have some connection to the unstable nature of the Demon Domain. I guess around here, when it rains, it **pours**."

After flying around in various directions for a considerable amount of time, the dragons finally came across Murdred's castle, which was only a few acres away from their current location.

"Whew!" said Geminus. "we actually made it."

"And if you don't count our encounter with Nemenemi as an actual fight," added Seth, "then we managed to get all the way to the castle without any getting our paws dirty."

"Too bad they won't stay clean for much longer," said Warren, as the dragons all flew down towards the rock that Malfunk had revealed was actually hiding a secret entrance into Murdred's castle.

"This certainly looks like the same rock," said Skyfrost, once he had come down for a landing and walked over towards the boulder with Seth still on his back.

"I'll give it a push and we'll know for sure," said Raxtus.

Raxtus proceeded to press his body against the boulder. Surely enough, the boulder slid across the ground, revealing the secret passage that had previously led the group into Murdred's castle.

"Nice," said Ingrid. "I guess we can just go on in and head back towards the castle now."

"Hopefully, they haven't figured out what we're up to," said Kendra. "What with Malfunk slipping into castle and us freeing all those prisoners."

"As long as we can get into the castle and snuff out Murdred, I'll be more than satisfied," said Warren.

The dragons then walked down into the underground passage. Geminus and Ingrid went in last, and the fairy dragon made sure to place the boulder back in its original position behind them.

"Hey," said Seth, as he slipped out of his raincoat. "At least we don't have to wear these things anymore!"

Seth then pulled the dripping raincoat he had been wearing off of his body, allowing the water droplets that had collected upon it to drip to down onto the sloped floor of the tunnel.

_I can take those off your hands _came Bright's voice via telepathy. Suddenly, the raincoat that Seth had been wearing magically disappeared, along with the ones that Kendra, Ingrid and Warren had yet to take off.

"Sure beats a coat check," said Warren, as the dragons proceeded to walk deeper into the tunnel with their riders on their backs.

"Just as well, too," said Ingrid. "This place got hot enough on our first trip through."

After going downwards for a considerable distance, the tunnel eventually straightened out. The group continued forward through the tunnel. Before long, the tunnel was giving off an orange glow, while the temperature had risen to a considerably higher heat, indicating that they were currently passing underneath the lava moat.

"I hate this part," said Seth. "It's like an oven in here."

"Agreed," said Skyfrost. "I'm just gonna hoof it through here."

Skyfrost then increased his speed and darted deeper into the tunnel. Seth braced himself, not knowing how sure-footed a wyvern could actually be, given their preference for flying.

After passing through the boiling section of the tunnel, Skyfrost came to an abrupt halt and stopped on the spot. Seth felt the air around him. It was hot, but nowhere near as bad as it had been directly underneath the moat. He was still sweating bullets, nonetheless.

"Wow," said Seth. "That was kinda fun! Let's do it again!"

"Hell no," said Skyfrost. "And I mean it when I say _hell_."

Seth then looked back and watched as Raxtus, Geminus and Firesquall all hurried through the tunnel towards where he and Skyfrost were waiting.

"Talk about hotfooting," said Warren.

"You're one to talk," said Firesquall. "None of you humans or your feet made contact with the floor."

"Everyone, please!" exclaimed Kendra. "There's no need for arguing about technicalities. We've got to keep going until we reach Murdred!"

"She's got a point," said Ingrid. "Come on, let's go!"

The group continued through the tunnel, which gradually rose upwards on an incline. Before long, they had reached the doorway from before, which appeared to be nothing more than a dead end.

"This should do it," said Raxtus, as he pushed the door open, revealing the tunnel's continuation on the other side.

As the group pressed onwards, the eventually came across the same crossroads that they had initially reached when they were with Malfunk. Seth distinctly recalled Malfunk pressuring them to go right, since the left side had led them to that oubliette where Kendra and the others had been held.

Veering to the right, the group continued onwards through the tunnels and soon came across another crossroads.

"Man, this place is like a maze down here," said Ingrid. "How're we gonna find the way out?"

"Well, there's always the trick where you follow one side," said Seth.

"Not the best choice, since the way out may not be around the perimeter," said Warren.

"I really should've payed more attention to when the adlets were escorting me to the oubliette," said Kendra.

"I've got it," said Geminus. "Everyone, sniff the air."

Kendra and Seth inhaled heavily through their noses. The air was dank and musky. However, one thing they were able to detect was the faint aroma of skunk spray.

"Lucky for us, that Malfunk's a stinker," said Warren. "But his scent can guide us through here. We just have to follow our noses."

"There's a reason they don't put skunks on cereal boxes," said Kendra, who found the stench to be somewhat repulsive.

"You reptiles must have a better sense of smell than us humans," said Seth. "Lead the way!"

The dragons continued down one path, making various turns at different crossroads. Eventually, they had come across a spiralling stairway that led upwards.

"Awesome!" said Seth. "We actually made it!"

"Okay," said Warren. "Now we storm the castle. And we don't give in until we can unleash the power of the light crystal upon Murdred."

The dragons then made their way up the stairs, where the emerged in a hallway on the ground floor of Murdred's castle.

"I think I remember where to go from here," said Kendra, as she pointed down the hallway. That way!"

The dragons went down in the direction that Kendra had pointed them in, and surely enough, they emerged from the hallway and into the grand entrance hall of the castle.

"This feels too easy," said Firesquall. "You'd think there'd be some actual guards around here."

"Murdred must feel that the barrier is enough security," said Raxtus. "If he's under the impression that nobody can get in or out of the castle, then he probably isn't too concerned about anybody wandering in and bothering him."

"Just as well," said Skyfrost. "I'm not one to back away from a fight, but the fewer opponents we have to deal with, the better."

"Having Murdred for an opponent is more than enough," said Ingrid.

"Now we've just gotta get up to the top floor," said Kendra, gazing up at the vast stairwell that stood before the group."

"Who needs to run up those stairs?" asked Firesquall. "We'd rather just fly to the top!"

"Yeah," said Warren. "We can take the express elevator!"

The dragons all extended their wings at the same time. Next the foursome proceeded to shoot up into the air. They quickly soared past several floors, and in mere seconds, had reach the top of the hall, which had a large, rotunda skylight ornamenting the ceiling. Upon arriving at the top, the dragons slowed down and veered into the hallway that led to Murdred's throne room, where they all came to a landing and stopped.

"Not only was that fun!" exclaimed Seth. "It was easy, too!"

"Glad you're happy," said Kendra sternly. "Because now here comes the hard part."

Kendra and Seth gazed down the long hallway, at the end of which stood the double doors that marked the entrance to Murdred's throne room.

"Hard part?" asked Seth, as the dragons all walked down the hallway towards the throne room. "How is this supposed to be hard? The minute we find Murdred, all you have to do is aim that light crystal at him and and unleash its power."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Well, then we..." said Seth, unable to finish his response. "We... Uh, Warren? What's the plan in case the light crystal _doesn't_ work?"

"I don't think there really _was_ a backup plan," said Warren. "We seem banking on this crystal. According to Brillia, it may very well be our only hope at this point."

"This light crystal better work for sure," said Skyfrost, once the dragons stopped in front of the doors to the throne room. "Because we've just reached the end of the line."

"We've still got to get through the door," said Kendra, observing the large doors that stood before the group. "I could use it to create an opening through the bricks, but it might take too long. Too bad I can't get the Emerock to work on metal."

"Leave that to us," said Firesquall. "What we did for the dungeon, we can do for these doors as well! Stand back, all of you!"

Everybody backed away from the doors, prompting Firesquall to unleash a steady wave of fire upon them. A moment later, Firesquall brought his flaming breath to a halt.

"My turn," said Skyfrost, as he took his position and exhaled a powerful blast of icy mist upon the door. Once Skyfrost stopped, the door appeared to be covered in a thin layer of frost.

"I'll do the honors, if you all don't mind," said Raxtus. "Kendra, you'd better get down from me now."

"Okay," said Kendra, as she hopped down from atop of Raxtus' backside.

The fairy dragon then fixated his focus on the doors, then made a sudden running charge at them. Surely enough, Raxtus smashed his way through the doors and went stumbling into the throne room.

"What the..." blared Murdred's voice from within the throne room. "What's going on here?"

The rest of the group hurried into the throne room behind Raxtus. Looking down at the far end of the room, Murdred himself could be seen sitting down on his throne.

"You!" snarled Murdred, as he stood up from his throne and jumped down off of the dais. "I should have known! You must've snuck into the castle somehow. Just like my son. And just like my _son_, I'll do to you what I did to him!"

Kendra was tempted to just pull out the light crystal and blast Murdred with it, but part of her became intrigued upon Murdred's mention of his son.

"Your son?" asked Kendra.

"Yeah...," replied Murdred, pointing over to one side of the room. "He's right over there."

Everybody looked to where Murdred was pointing. Lying on the floor, surrounded in a puddle of blood, was Malfunk, brutally wounded and completely motionless.

"Malfunk?" asked Seth, who, even though it was a demonic creature, couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I can see you're already acquainted," said Murdred proudly.

"How..." asked Ingrid. "What did you do to him?"

"Isn't it obvious? I killed him!"

"Talk about a Malfunk-tion," said Warren, trying to lighten the mood.

"You killed your own son?" asked Geminus. But... why?"

"Because... I deemed him to be an unfit heir to my throne. Today he just barged in here, demanding that I choose him over another disciple. The fool had no right to do so. So I mutilated him."

"But... he's your son!" exclaimed Kendra. "Even _you_ must care about family."

"Family that provides me with nothing is completely worthless," said Murdred. "All I ever wanted was a loyal son. My five children before Malfunk had the misfortune of all being born as females. I finally ended up with a son, and he turned out to be completely unfit to be a ruler of the Demon Domain. He's so foul, even the adlets don't want to eat him."

"That's just wrong," said Ingrid. "Even for someone like _you_."

"I care not for your petty banter!" snarled Murdred. "And now you will all perish! Helwic! To me at once!"

Helwic suddenly appeared next to Murdred in a burst of fire.

"Them?" exclaimed Helwic. "How did they..."

"Shut up and destroy them!"exclaimed Murdred, as Kendra stumbled to grab the light crystal from within her bag.

Helwic proceeded to blast a wave of fire towards the group, who barely managed to evade it.

"You like fire, huh?" asked Skyfrost. "Take this!"

Skyfrost proceeded to exhale his icy breath at Helwic's flaming attack, cutting it off in mid-fire.

"You stupid fools!" snapped Helwic, trying hold back Skyfrost's retaliations. "I'll turn you all into cockroaches for this!"

As this was going on, Kendra whipped the light crystal from out of her bag. She then aimed it at Murdred and proceeded to expel a powerful blast of vibrant white energy from the crystal at the Demon God himself.

"YOW!" screamed Murdred, whose sudden shriek had caused Helwic, Skyfrost and even Kendra to cease their attacks.

Murdred, whose very own skin appeared to be smoking on the spot from which he had been hit by the light energy, suddenly toppled over and landed on his backside.

"Lord Murdred!" gasped Helwic, as she turned to face the fallen monstrosity. "What have they _done_ to you?"

"What have I done?" asked Kendra. "See this crystal I'm holding? It has enough light energy within it to destroy you! Even within the confines of the Demon Domain!"

"It can't be!" snapped Murdred. "Helwic! Stop her at once!"

Before Helwic could do anything, Kendra aimed the crystal at the negafae and proceeded to assault her with a brief blast of light energy. Helwic screamed in pain as she too fell over in a similar manner to Murdred.

"Careful!" exclaimed Geminus. "The light crystal may be powerful, but even it has a limit."

"Come on!" said Seth. "Finish off Murdred once and for all!"

Kendra then realigned her aim of the light crystal back over to Murdred, who was still sitting down on the floor.

However, just before Kendra could project the light crystal's power at Murdred, a powerful force hit her rear, causing her to topple over and drop the light crystal.

Kendra moaned. "What was that?"

Seth looked over at the figure that had knocked over Kendra. It was Nemenemi's manticore. And Nemenemi herself was riding atop of it.

"Nemenemi?" gasped Seth.

"What's going on here?" hissed Nemenemi, who was looking even more monstrous than ever.

Kendra, who was still lying face-down on the floor, could not believe what she was hearing. Nevertheless, she was trying to muster the strength to reach over and grab the fallen light crystal.

"Under any other circumstance, I should have you assaulted on the spot, Nemenemi," said Murdred. "However, your timing could not have been more perfect."

At this point, Kendra managed to grab the light crystal with her fingertips. She quickly rolled it closer towards herself, until she could better wrap her fingers with both hands around the crystal and properly pick it up. However, now Kendra was in a real bind. Although she had been led to believe that the light crystal possessed enough energy to destroy Murdred, it seemed doubtful that it held the strength to destroy Nemenemi as well.

"You don't scare me!" grumbled Seth, only for Nemenemi to retaliate by blasting both him and Skyfrost with a pulse of darkness. Seth could sense a chill trembling through his body upon contact. "Skyfrost, are you okay?"

"I feel... weak..." muttered the wyvern.

"Warren," said Ingrid, who was eyeing both Nemenemi and the manticore, "what can we do? Nemenemi's too powerful!"

"Exactly," said Nemenemi. "I'm stronger than ever now!"

"Well I don't want another disciple," said Murdred, who was now standing up again along with Helwic. "That's why I disposed of the remaining elixir. So I don't wind up with another one of _you_."

"We can't beat them all!" said Geminus. "Even with the help of the fairy angels!"

"That does it!" exclaimed Kendra, as she climbed back up onto her feet and held out the light crystal. "I don't know who its going to be, but I'm going to put an end to at least one of you. Once and for all!"


	31. Tyrant Trouble

**Chapter 31: Tyrant Trouble**

Holding the light crystal firmly in her grasp, Kendra proceeded to turn look roundfrom side to side. Standing nearby at the front of the room was Nemenemi, who was currently seated atop her manticore.

Towards the center of the room was Murdred, accompanied by Helwic.

"Kendra," said Seth, "you'd better do _something._"

"I don't see what I _can_ do," said Kendra. "If I use the crystal on Murdred, I won't have enough power to stop Nemenemi!"

"Helwic!" snarled Murdred. "We can deal with Nemenemi later. Destroy Kendra!"

"With pleasure, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she proceeded to blast a wall of fire towards Kendra.

"Oh no you don't!" said Geminus, as she used her power to conjure up a pink force field between Helwic and the group, effectively blocking the negafae's fire attack.

"Enough!" hissed Nemenemi, as she unleashed a wave of darkness at the group from the rear. Not only did the sensation of the darkness make everybody feel feint, but it also dispelled Geminus' force field.

"Geminus!" gasped Ingrid wearily. "Are you okay?"

"I don't... know..." moaned Geminus.

Helwic then attempted to blast another stream of fire at the group. However, Warren was quick on the draw, and managed to quench the flaming assault with water from the Sapphazure.

"It would appear that our opponents possess some knowledge of those... relics," said Murdred.

"A lot of good it does me," said Helwic. "My magic relies on fire!"

"My turn!" blurted Skyfrost, as he shot a blast of cool ice towards Murdred, only for Helwic to block it by conjuring up some sort of fiery force field.

Skyfrost then turned around and aimed his ice attack back at Nemenemi. However, before it could even so much as make contact with her, the ice inexplicably fizzled away.

"It's not working!," said Firesquall. "Our attack are ineffective on them! They're just too powerful!"

"We can't waste our power on Nemenemi either," said Raxtus. "Kendra, do something!"

"Murdred!" exclaimed Nemenemi. "Would you be up for proposing a temporary truce against these light freaks?"

"What's in it for me?" asked Murdred.

"Work with me, and I'll see to it that we destroy our enemies today!"

"Very well," said Murdred. "But the minute they're out of the picture, our alliance will end!"

Kendra wanted to pick a target. However, she felt so caught up in the conflict, that she couldn't decide who was worth it more. Murdred was ancient, but Nemenemi's power was increasing at an unparalleled rate. If they didn't stop her now, her power could increase beyond even Murdred's level. But by doing that, they would still have to contend with Murdred.

"Take this!" snapped Nemenemi, as she exerted another wave of darkness at the group, this one more intense than the first.

"It's so strong!" gasped Skyfrost.

"Kendra!" screamed Raxtus. "Just pick one of them already!"

Suddenly, Raxtus and Geminus both fell down onto their stomachs, causing Kendra and Ingrid to fall off of their backs respectively.

"Guess your fairy dragon friends couldn't handle the darkness," said Murdred smugly.

"That other girl appears to be weakest," said Helwic. "I think I'll start with _her_."

Helwic then shot a bolt of fire directly at Ingrid, who was still sitting on the floor next to Geminus. Suddenly, Ingrid's entire body began to rise into the air.

"Hey, what's happening?" gasped Ingrid, as she slowly started to float towards Helwic and Murdred.

"Let her go!" shrieked Geminus, as she leapt up onto her feet and grabbed Ingrid. However, while she managed to stop Ingrid from moving any further, Geminus was seemingly unable to pull her back.

"Deal with this!" snapped Nemenemi, as she shot a beam of darkness directly at Ingrid. In an instant, a bubble of darkness completely engulfed itself around Ingrid's entire body, prompting Geminus to let go of her.

"Ingrid!" screamed Seth.

"Help me!" yelled Ingrid, whose voice was muffled from within the bubble.

"What's that bubble going to do to Ingrid?" asked Firesquall.

"Don't know," replied Warren. "But it can't be good."

"If this bubble doesn't succeed in corrupting her," said Helwic. "I imagine the darkness with overwhelm her body and cause her to die."

"Die?" gasped Seth. "No! No you can't!"

"Excellent," said Murdred. "Now get another!"

Geminus then exhaled her light energy in a fiery formation at the bubble that was encasing Ingrid, bu

it didn't so much as scathe it.

"It didn't work!" gasped Geminus. "I'm not strong enough!"

"Let's try it together!" said Raxtus, as he proceeded to expel his light energy at the bubble, while Geminus tried using her own power again.

"It's still not working!" cried Skyfrost. "Both fairy dragons aren't strong enough!"

While Geminus and Raxtus continued to exert their light energy at Ingrid, Bright, Bracken and Clover all appeared next to the group.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come down to this," said Bracken, "but we're left with no choice!"

"Look," said Helwic smugly, "it's the fairy angels to the rescue again!"

Wasting no time, Bright, Bracken and Clover held out their hands and proceeded to blast rainbow, white and green beams of light energy at the bubble, joining the fairy dragons in their attempt to penetrate it.

"Go ahead," said Helwic. "Exhaust your power now. You'll only be even easier to deal with later."

"She's right," said Raxtus, as he ceased his attack, along with the others.

"But what about Ingrid?" asked Seth.

Kendra then held out the light crystal, and unleashed a blast of light energy at the crystal. The flash of light was so intense, it nearly blinded everybody in the room.

After a few seconds, the light from the crystal faded. Everyone watched as cracks appeared on the bubble, which suddenly shattered, causing Ingrid to fall down to the floor.

"Ingrid!" exclaimed Seth. "Are you okay?"

"I think so..." replied Ingrid, as she proceeded to get up onto her feet.

"That was insane," said Nemenemi.

"Oh no," said Kendra, looking at the light crystal in her hands. "It feels... empty."

"You are such a fool," said Murdred. "You had the power to destroy me. But instead, you wasted it on saving your pathetic friend."

"I had to," said Kendra. "Maybe you don't care about your family. But I care about mine."

"Lot of good your precious family will be when we destroy you all. Nemenemi! Don't just stand there, trap her in another bubble!"

"I'm trying!" snapped Nemenemi, displaying a disgruntled look on her face "I'm new at this, you idiot!"

"It's not working!" gasped Bright. "They're just too strong."

"It's almost as though Murdred and Nemenemi's powers feed off one another," said Bracken. "Together, combined with the innate darkness of the Demon Domain, makes them an unstoppable force."

"I think we'd better get out of here," said Clover, as she used her power to conjure up a portal.

"Oh no you don't!" roared Murdred, as he and Helwic proceeded to charge across the room towards the group.

Without any hesitation, Raxtus and Geminus blasted their fiery light energy at the approaching villains. However, the Demon God and negafae seemed so determined that the attack seemingly had no effect.

Likewise, Bracken and Bright shot Nemenemi and her manticore with light energy.

"Hurry!" exclaimed Clover, signalling for everybody in the group to head into the portal.

All four dragons, proceeded to dash towards the portal. In an instant, the the dragons and their riders had passed through from inside Murdred's throne room and emerged in the yard at Fablehaven.

Before anybody could get their bearings, Bright came charging through the portal, followed by Bracken and Clover.

"Close it!" exclaimed Raxtus, as Clover turned around to face the portal. She then held up her hands...

Suddenly, Nemenemi and her manticore bolted out of the portal, nearly trampling Clover in the process.

"No!" gasped Ingrid.

Clover attempted to close the portal again, but before she could do so, Murdred and Helwic came running out of it.

"Well, well, well," said Murdred. "Looks like I finally made it back to Fablehaven."

"You're _not_ welcome here!" growled Bright, leering toward the portal. "Leave. Now!"

"Really?" asked Murdred. "After all the times you came over and invaded _my_ home?" We're not going anywhere. Helwic, close that stupid portal."

Helwic held her hand back, using it to zap the still-open portal with a small blast of fire. Upon contact, the portal vanished.

"That does it," said Warren. "Party's over. You're on _our_ turf now."

"It's Murdred!" said Grandma, her voice coming from the direction of the house.

"Stay out of this!" snapped Helwic, shooting a blast of fire towards the house. In an instant, the fire spread out and formed a flaming dome around the entire house.

"NO!" cried Seth.

"I won't burn down the house," said Helwic. "At least, not yet. But your family is trapped behind a wall of magical flames."

"That fire's huge," said Warren. "Even the Sapphazure alone can't extinguish it."

"So," said Nemenemi, gazing at her surroundings. "_This_ is the Fablehaven I've kept on hearing about. Doesn't look so special. It's just some stupid forest."

"Quit your insolent whining," hissed Murdred. "Destroy them!"

"Fine," muttered Nemenemi, as she swooshed her hand through the air, unleashing a pulse of darkness through the air towards the group.

"Not this time," said Bracken as he, Bright, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus all exerted their own power to counter the dark pulse, stopping it in midair.

"It worked!" gasped Ingrid.

"It took all five of us to stop one of those," noted Bright.

"Deal with this," said Murdred. "Helwic. Nemenemi. Attack together!"

"Certainly, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she expelled a wave of fiery energy towards the group.

Likewise, Nemenemi expelled another darkness pulse alongside Helwic's fire attack.

Skyfrost proceeded to blast incoming fire with his icy breath, and was successful in stopping it. Nemenemi's darkness, however, was more than the fairy angels and dragons could handle, and passed through everybody in the group, making them all feel weak.

"Yes!" exclaimed Murdred. "Keep going!"

Nemenemi then shot a bolt of darkness at Skyfrost. The impact was so powerful, it knocked Seth off of the wyvern's back and onto the ground.

"No!" exclaimed Firesquall, as his brother's entire body became encased in a bubble of darkness, just like what had happened to Ingrid.

"Help!" cried Skyfrost from within the bubble.

"Skyfrost!" cried Seth. "Let him go!"

"Never," said Nemenemi.

Without any hesitation, Seth drew Vasilis from his back and held it before himself.

"That blade..." said Murdred.

"The same one that destroyed Demoric," added Helwic.

Seth charged towards Skyfrost with Vasilis. He attempted to stab his way through the bubble, but was unable to so much as scathe it.

"Vasilis has been weakened greatly," said Bracken. "Seth. It won't do you any good right now."

"Your turn," said Nemenemi, as she then shot a bolt of darkness at Seth himself.

Before Seth could react, a veil of darkness instantly surrounded his entire body. He too was now inside a bubble. It was pitch black inside, and the surface felt cold and dank.

"I can't get out!" gasped Seth, trying to puncture the bubble with Vasilis, but to no avail. "Someone help!"

Kendra watched in horror as her brother's entire body became enveloped in a veil of darkness. "Help him!" she bellowed.

Bracken, Bright, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus all focused their aim at the bubble that had trapped Seth. They then directed all of the their energy attacks at the bubble, but they seemingly appeared to be having absolutely no effect on it.

"Firesquall," said Warren, "we can't give up! I'll aim for those two, you go for Nemenemi!"

Warren then held out the Sapphazure and used it to blast Murdred and Helwic with water. Likewise, Firesquall shot a stream of fire at Nemenemi. As Kendra feared, their efforts were in vain, for neither of their attacks could even so much as touch any of the villains.

"Their darkness levels are off the scale," said Bracken. "It's like some unstoppable force is protecting them from anything we can dish out."

"I didn't really appreciate that," said Nemenemi. "Now both of you will suffer!"

Nemenemi held out both of her hands, then shot a bolt of darkness out of each one. One bolt hit Warren, the other hit Firesquall.

"No!" cried Kendra, as Warren inexplicably rose up off of Firesquall's back.

However, before anyone could react, a bubble of darkness suddenly encased Warren's entire body, just like the ones that had trapped Seth and Skyfrost. At the same moment, another bubble formed around Firesquall, trapping the other wyvern as well.

Helwic laughed. "Four down, seven to go!"

"Don't just stand there, Nenenemi," said Murdred. "Trap the rest of them as well!"

"Would you shut up for moment," said Nemenemi. "These bubbles take a lot out of me!"

"I want them all trapped now! Helwic, do something!"

"Lord Murdred," said Helwic, "Nemenemi is displaying powerful feats of darkness, unheard of for such a new and inexperienced demoness. She needs time to hone her power."

"I don't care!" growled Murdred. "I am the God of Demons! No one is to ever defy me or my demands!"

"Look at those fools over there," said Helwic, pointing towards Kendra and her remaining allies. "They lack the power to stop us. They're just sitting ducks."

"We've gotta do something," said Ingrid.

"Seems like our only hope now is for me to become fairyprime," said Kendra.

"Are you serious?" asked Ingrid, her eyes widening.

"But Kendra," said Clover, "this adventure has taken its toll on us. None of us are at full power, and many of our allies are unavailable."

"Well, we can't just stand here, not doing anything."

"How exactly do we allow you to become fairyprime?" asked Ingrid. "I've never done it myself, I only know what you've told me about it."

"You don't have to do anything, Ingrid," said Bright. "Just hold our hands and let us do the work."

"Okay, then," said Ingrid, as she, Bright, Bracken, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus all stood in a circular formation around Kendra. "I just wish there was something more I could do to help."

"Just lend us your heart," said Raxtus. "That's what we need more than anything."

"Let's do this," said Kendra. "Everybody else is counting on us."

"What in blazes are they doing?" exclaimed Murdred.

"I have no idea, my liege," replied Helwic.

Kendra watched as her surrounding allies all held hands. Next, each of them transformed into a colorful ball of vibrant, glowing energy. An instant later, the balls of energy flowed into Kendra, and she could feel as her body absorbed all of them simultaneously.

Now that she had acquired the power of her allies, Kendra could feel their power and energy surging through her body. However, something did not feel quite right. Most notably, her hair had not changed color, nor had she sprouted her coveted fairyprime wings.

"It's not working!" gasped Kendra. "I can't seem to become fairyprime! Either we're not strong enough, or the mere presence of these powerful demons are too strong!"

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish," said Nemenemi, "but it ends now! Thank you for merging the rest of you into one convenient target."

Nemenemi then held out her hand and shot another bolt at Kendra. Kendra retaliated by shooting a rainbow out of her hands, using it to intercept the bolt in midair.

"She utilizing fairy power!" exclaimed Helwic.

Kendra struggled to block off Nemenemi's darkness bolt with her rainbow, pushing against the force of it like an inverted game of tug of war. However, neither side appeared to be winning.

"I can't keep this up for long," said Kendra, under her breath. "Nemenemi just feels too powerful."

"This ends now!" shouted Helwic, as she shot a stream of fiery energy from her hand and hit the same point where the rainbow and darkness bolt had reached a standstill. From what Kendra could tell, Nemenemi and Helwic's attacks had converged with one another.

Suddenly, Kendra could feel as the force of both the darkness bolt and the fire stream were pushing against her rainbow. Kendra's rainbow was gradually shrinking, as the two forces of darkness flowed closer and closer to where she was standing.

Unable to stop the attacks, Kendra's rainbow dissipated once it got too small. Before she could react, the converged forces of Nemenemi and Helwic collided with Kendra's body, overcoming her with a feeling of terror.

The attacks finally came to a halt, but had left Kendra feeling weakened, as though she had lost what little power that her allies had given her. Next, everybody who had contributed to Kendra's fairyprime transformation suddenly appeared next to her.

"What happened?" asked Ingrid, looking around at the group.

"The fairyprime transformation..." said Bracken. "It didn't work. As we stand right now, we lack the power to properly achieve it."

"Well, well, well," said Murdred. "I don't quite understand what you were attempting to accomplish. But whatever it was, it didn't work. And if I were to harbor a guess, it would seem that your latest spectacle was your last line of defense against us."

_The light crystal_, thought Kendra. It had been with her during the entire fairyprime ordeal. Perhaps Kendra having it on her person had caused it to absorb her allies' energy.

Kendra then whipped the light crystal out of her bag and aimed it at Murdred. She attempted to shoot a beam of light energy at the Demon God, but alas, it failed. The light crystal felt just as empty as it did after she had rescued Ingrid.

"What's wrong?" asked Ingrid.

"The light crystal," replied Kendra. "I can't get it to work. We're not strong enough to stop our enemies."

Murdred then let out a wicked laugh. "At last! I've won! And this time, there's nothing that you can do to stop me!"


	32. Appreciation

**Chapter 32: Appreciation**

Kendra stared across the yard to where Murdred, Helwic, Nemenemi and her manticore were all standing. The villains all appeared to be in prime form, and Kendra, regrettably, was well aware of that.

Surrounding Kendra were Ingrid, Raxtus, Geminus, Bracken, Bright and Clover. Seth, Warren, Skyfrost and Firesquall were technically there as well, but alas, they had each been trapped within one of Nemenemi's darkness bubbles, which were undoubtedly bringing them severe trauma.

"Come on," said Kendra, shaking the light crystal within her hands. "You can't fail now. Please work! I _need_ you!"

"Enough wasting time," said Murdred. "Helwic, deal with them!"

"As you command, Lord Murdred," as she held up her hands.

"Look out!" shrieked Bright, as Helwic shot another blast of fire towards the group, prompting Kendra to drop the light crystal. However, everybody narrowly managed to avoid being hit by the incoming wave of fire.

Just before Kendra was about to bend down and pick up the fallen light crystal, a thought suddenly hit her. The Emerock! Kendra had nearly forgotten all about it. As good as it was, the light crystal was essentially useless if it didn't have any power. Kendra then reached into her bag and proceeded to pull out the green relic.

"Maybe they were able to shield themselves from a blast of water," said Kendra, raising the Emerock before her, "but let's see what they do when I manipulate the earth from under them!"

"Don't just stand there, you fools," said Murdred. "Get them!"

"We don't possess infinite power," noted Helwic.

"It figures," said Murdred. "Typical women. If the adlets were here, they'd have ripped our opponents to shreds by now."

Suddenly, the ground that Murdred, Helwic, Nemenemi and the manticore were standing atop of inexplicably jutted itself up into the air, knocking the three villains who were standing on it a good number of feet into the air. They then came crashing down and landed elsewhere on the ground.

"All right, Kendra!" said Ingrid, as she picked up the fallen light crystal. "If only this thing had more power."

"It needs recharging," said Kendra.

"And we don't have that sort of energy within us at the moment," said Bracken.

"You think _that_ will stop me?" growled Murdred. "Lot of help these _women_ have been. Guess I'll crush you all with my bare hands!"

Murdred proceeded to stomp his way over towards the group. Wasting no time, Kendra used the Emerock to extend the branch of a nearby tree, which she then made itself wrap around the approaching Demon God, stopping him in his tracks.

"Send him flying!" exclaimed Ingrid, as Kendra used the Emerock to lift Murdred up into the air, keeping him restrained.

"Shut up, you stupid weakling," said Nemenemi. "I _was _saving this for somebody more important, but since you seem _sooo _eager..."

Nemenemi then quickly shot a bolt of darkness directly at Ingrid, instantly causing a bubble to form itself around her upon contact.

"Ingrid!" cried Geminus. "No!"

"Keep on whining," said Nemenemi. "Soon it will be your turn!"

"Let her go!" cried Kendra, as tears started to flow down from her eyes. "What did she ever do to you? I'm the one you want."

Murdred then ripped himself free from the branch that was holding him and fell down to the ground. "Stupid girl. Soon I will have you all!"

"There's nothing we can do!" said Bracken.

"Oh yes there is," said a familiar voice from behind Kendra.

Kendra turned around and saw that standing behind her was Stargleam, Windshear and a large court of fairies. At the front of the fairy court were Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod.

"Fairies?" asked Murdred.

"Something's wrong," said Goldenrod. "I feel... weaker for some reason."

"Fools!" laughed Helwic. "The combined powers of Murdred and Nemenemi are more than the lot of you can even bear!"

"We can't waste any more time!" exclaimed Larissa. "Fairies! Attack!"

Kendra watched as the dozens of fairies all shot diminutive beams of all colors from their hands and directed them across the yard at the villains. Likewise, a beam of red energy came spiralling out of Stargleam's horn.

Murdred, Helwic and Nemenemi remained where they were, seemingly unaffected by all the light energy that was flowing into them.

"The rest of us, try again!" exclaimed Bright, as she shot a blast of rainbow-colored energy towards the villains, joining in the assault with the other fairies. Likewise, Bright's encouragement prompted Bracken, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus to all add in their attacks as well.

All together, the combined energies of the fairies was quite a spectacle to behold. Had the circumstances not been so dire, the display of colorful energy would've been fascinating to watch. But it wasn't. This was the last hope that Kendra and her family had to rely on. If it failed, there was seemingly nothing they could do to stop the villains.

Murdred let out a deep laugh. "Is that the_ best _you've got?"

"It's not working!" cried Passion, as energy continued to flow from her hands.

"They're just... too powerful!" exclaimed Clover.

"But how?" asked Bracken. "There's way more of us than there are of them!"

"Don't you fairies get it?" shouted Helwic, as she expelled a fiery shock wave from her body, dispersing all the light energy that "Being in the mere presence of our excessive power weakens each and every one of your hearts, which in turn weakens your power. And as long as your hearts are weakened, it wouldn't matter if there were a thousand of you!"

"She's... right," said Geminus. "This isn't about numbers. As fairies, we're just... too weak to stop them."

"Please don't give up!" gasped Kendra. "You have to stop them!"

"Nemenemi, take care of the one known as Kendra next," said Murdred.

"I couldn't agree with you more," said Nemenemi, as she proceeded to shoot a bolt of darkness at Kendra.

"No!" shouted Bracken, as he leapt in front of Kendra, taking the impact of the bolt, only for a bubble to form around the fairy prince.

"Bracken!" shrieked Kendra, as she proceeded to pound upon his darkness bubble with her fists. Despite being a bubble, the surface felt cold and extremely hard. "How could you?"

"This would go a lot faster if you'd surrender already!" said Murdred.

"But..."

"Don't sass me. You're clearly on the losing side here. Just admit. You've all lost. You possess no chance of stopping us. Give it up. There's no hope left for you at all."

Suddenly, everybody was caught off guard when they heard what sounded like glass shattering.

"Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "What is that sound?"

"I don't know," replied Murdred. "And I don't care. Nemenemi, hurry up and trap another one of them, since they just want keep standing around like this."

Just then, Kendra watched in amazement as one of the darkness bubbles burst open into hundreds of opaque, glass-like shards, which came as a huge shock to everybody.

Standing where the bubble had been was Ingrid. She was clenching the light crystal in her hands, which was giving off a nearly-blinding white glow.

"Ingrid," gasped Kendra. "You got out!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble," said Ingrid smugly.

"Nemenemi," muttered Murdred, "your power must be weakening. Trap that pathetic girl again!"

Ingrid then held out the light crystal and proceed to shoot a beam of white energy at one of the other bubbles. Almost immediately, the bubble vanished, freeing Firesquall, who had been trapped inside.

"Ingrid," said Firesquall, "did just... save me?"

"I'm not getting weaker, you goddamn idiot!" shouted Nemenemi. "Either she or that crystal are getting stronger!"

"But... how?" asked Murdred.

Ignoring Murdred, Ingrid proceeded to quickly use the crystal on the other bubbles, effectively releasing Bracken, Warren, Seth and Skyfrost from confinement as well. All of them cheered joyously upon being freed.

"Incredible," said Bracken. "It's like Ingrid managed to restore the light crystal somehow."

"Enough of this!" hissed Murdred. "Helwic! Turn Ingrid into a bronze statue!"

Helwic extended her hands and unleashed a beam of fire at Ingrid. However, before it could make contact with her, the light crystal glowed stronger, causing the fire to sizzle out.

"It's not working!" gasped Helwic, as smoke flowed up from her palms.

"Ingrid," said Kendra, "give me the light crystal! Please!"

"Okay!" said Ingrid, as she quickly darted over to Kendra and handed her the light crystal.

Just by making contact with it, Kendra could sense that the light crystal was flowing with a great abundance of light energy.

"Nemenemi!" yelled Murdred. "Nemenemi! Do something!"

"Like **what**?" snapped Nemenemi.

"Take this!" said Kendra, as she directed a blast of light energy each at Murdred, Helwic and Nemenemi, all of whom screamed in pain upon being hit.

"Let's try this again, everybody! Help me go fairyprime!"

All the fairies surrounding Kendra used their power to turn themselves, as well as Kendra's family and the wyverns into glowing balls of energy.

"What're they trying now?" asked Helwic.

"Beats me," said Murdred. "But now... I don't quite feel one-hundred percent. It's like my power is... weakening."

At this point, all of the energy balls had flown into Kendra's body. Her body now overflowing with power, Kendra experienced the sensation as her hair became streaked in rainbow colors, while wings sprouted out of her backside. She had done it! She had successfully become fairyprime!

"You want to know what's going on?" asked Kendra. "I'll tell you! I've just undergone my transformation into fairyprime! And you're going to be sorry!"

"Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "This doesn't look good! I'm sensing a phenomenal degree of light energy flowing through Kendra's body."

"No!" said Murdred. "It must be that stupid crystal! Destroy it!"

Helwic aimed another beam of fire directly at the crystal. However, before it could so much as get near Kendra, it ricocheted in midair and went flying in another direction.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked Kendra.

"My power!" exclaimed Helwic. "It didn't do anything!"

Kendra then held out the crystal and shot a rainbow directly at Murdred, causing him to wince and shriek in pain upon being hit.

"HELWIC!" screamed Murdred, as he endured the light energy that was flowing into his body. "STOP HER!"

"But... I..." muttered Helwic.

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" blared Murdred, still being weakened by the rainbow. "DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! JUST STOP HER!"

"I'll need your dark energy for this, Nemenemi!" shouted Helwic, as she held out her hand at Nemenemi.

Although she kept her rainbow focused on Murdred, Kendra watched as Helwic seemingly syphoned dark energy out of Nemenemi and her manticore.

"What are you doing?" yelled Nemenemi, as a black aura formed around Helwic.

"It's working!" scoffed Helwic. "I've increased my power!"

Helwic then shot the rainbow with a blast of black fire, instantly engulfing the entire thing in flames and freeing Murdred from its power. Now that Helwic had the power to destroy a rainbow, Kendra was starting to worry.

"Lord Murdred," said Helwic, "allow me to heal you!"

"No!" roared Murdred, as he collapsed to the ground. "Now's your chance! Eliminate Kendra while you still can!"

"But.. she's so powerful!"

"Then banish her to Hell! I don't care if doing so exhausts the last of your power!"

"As you command, Lord Murdred!" said Helwic, as she shot another blast of black fiery energy at Kendra.

Her natural instinct wanting to be to shield herself, Kendra held up the light crystal in front of the incoming black fire. The fire was strong, pushing against Kendra with tremendous force. However, the light crystal not only blocked the fire, but deflected it as well.

Kendra then noticed that Nemenemi was riding towards her atop her manticore, no doubt trying to strike while Kendra was open.

Not knowing what else to do, Kendra adjusted the way she was holding the crystal and realigned the reflecting fire so that it impacted Nemenemi and the manticore, stopping them in their tracks.

After a few seconds, the ground started to shake violently, causing Kendra to fall over just as Helwic's fire came to an end.

"What's happening?" exclaimed Nemenemi, while her manticore started to growl.

Suddenly, the ground started to open up underneath Nemenemi and her manticore.

"Uh oh," said Helwic.

"Take off you idiot!" yelled Nemenemi, as the crack in the ground underneath her manticore started to widen.

The manticore flapped her wings and attempted to take off, but an unseen force was seemingly keeping both her and Nemenemi from leaving their very spot.

"HELP ME!" screamed Nemenemi.

"I... can't..." said Helwic admittedly.

Once the crack grew wide enough for the manticore to fit through, despite flapping her wings furiously, she immediately plummeted downwards, taking Nemenemi down with her.

"Helwic," said Murdred, as the crack magically sealed itself up, "what just happened?"

"Well, you told me to banish Kendra to Hell," answered Helwic. "I obeyed your order as best I could. But my spell got deflected, so instead, it banished Nemenemi and her manticore to Hell. Not on purpose, of course."

"What difference does it make?" asked Murdred. "She's gone now."

"But I'm not!" shouted Kendra. "And now it's time to finish you off for good!"

Kendra held out the crystal and attempted to shoot a rainbow from it, but nothing came out. Had deflecting Helwic's attack weakened it again? What exactly had Ingrid done to recharge it? And so quickly, too?"

Nevertheless, Kendra was still feeling powerful. She placed the light crystal down, extended her hands, and proceeded to blast Murdred with another rainbow.

"ACK!" cried Murdred. "I CAN'T STAND THIS! HELWIC! GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!"

"As you command, Lord Murdred," said Helwic, as she quickly conjured up a portal directly behind Murdred.

"You're not leaving here at least without a souvenir," said Kendra, as she focused her power on Murdred, just before he was about to step through the portal. Wanting to see it to believe it, Kendra brought her rainbow to a halt.

Standing next to Helwic was Murdred. Only now, instead of being black his entire body was now colored pink.

"PINK?" gasped Murdred. "PINK? OF ALL COLORS! KENDRA! I'll GET YOU FOR THIS!"

Seeing a pink Murdred was just such an amusing sight, that Kendra couldn't help but erupt with laughter.

"COME ON!" yelled Murdred, as he darted through the portal, while Helwic followed behind him. A moment later, the portal closed behind them.

Once she stopped laughing, Kendra took a moment to absorb what had happened. "YES!" she shouted. "I defeated Murdred! I mean... WE defeated Murdred!"

A moment later, Kendra could feel as all the excess energy that was within her flowed out of her body. Once she had been fully relieved, Kendra's family and the fairies all appeared around her.

"Way to go!" said Seth, as he high-fived Kendra.

"That was fairyprime?" asked Skyfrost. "That was cool!"

"It _was_ pretty awesome," said Firesquall."

"Good work," said Warren, patting Kendra on her shoulder.

"Nice going," said Bracken, as he threw his arms around Kendra and gave her a kiss.

"Kendra," said Ingrid. "That was just... so cool!"

"Hooray for Kendra!" shouted numerous small fairies, as they all started to sing in harmony.

"Everybody, please!" gasped Kendra. "Hold your applause for a moment!"

At this point, Kendra and Seth noticed that the fire dome that Helwic had placed around the house had vanished, and that their parents, Grandparents and Dale were running across the yard to where everybody else had gathered.

"Everybody!" gasped Grandma. "What happened? We saw Murdred!"

"You stopped him?" asked Grandpa.

"Everything's fine," said Ingrid. "Thanks to Kendra."

Kendra then held her hands against her hips. "Listen to me! Ingrid! You are just as responsible for stopping Murdred and Nemenemi as I was."

"What do you mean?"

"You recharged the light crystal! Even though I'm the one who can become fairyprime, it was you who made it possible."

"How _did_ you charge that light crystal, anyway, Ingrid?" asked Bright.

"Well," replied Ingrid. "I recalled hearing that it was powered by light energy, which I've been told comes from the heart. While I was holding it, trapped in that bubble, I thought about how kind and supportive my family has been, rescuing me from Murdred's castle and giving me a home. I already lost my family once. and I knew how much it would hurt to lose everything a second time."

"So it _was_ your love," said Bracken. "Even though you were encased in a darkness and surrounded by villains, the power of your heart still shone through, allowing you to recharge the light crystal."

"You're saying... Ingrid's a hero?" asked Seth.

"Yup."

"But... what I did with the light crystal... Anybody here could have done it. I mean, all of you are kind and loving, are you not? What difference would it have made if Seth or Kendra had charged the crystal instead of myself?"

"You're right" said Clover. "Anybody with a pure heart could've recharged that crystal. But so what? _You_ were the one who charged it. You. Ingrid Sorenson. The girl who thought she was a useless burden. _You're_ the one who took action and restored the light crystal's power all on her own."

"It's true that being fairyprime is what allowed me to triumph over Murdred and Nemenemi," said Kendra. "But that's something can't do that alone. I depend on others. And if it hadn't have been for you, I never would've gained the power I need to become fairyprime."

"And you know what, Ingrid" said Seth. "You did what you did without any special powers or abilities. I'm a shadow charmer, and even _I_ couldn't overwhelm those three. You did good, Ingrid. Well done."

Seth then extended his arms around Ingrid and gave her a hug. Ingrid responded by hugging him in return, and gave him an assuring pat on the back.


	33. Evaluation

**Chapter 33: Evaluation**

"What should we do now?" asked Ingrid, as the family proceeded to walk back across the yard towards the house.

"Now?" asked Seth. "I think now we can finally relax. Now that Nemenemi is gone, we don't have to worry about her anymore. Do we?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ingrid. "She was banished to Hell, was she not?"

"What do you mean that Nemenemi was banished to Hell?" asked Mr. Sorenson, as the family made their way into the house through the front door.

As everybody made their way into the living room, the group explained to the others exactly what had transpired during the course of the battle.

"That's most unusual," said Grandpa. "Helwic really accumulated so much energy, that she was able to open up a passage to Hell?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Warren. "She tried to fly away on her manticore, but even that was powerless to escape the crevice. It was like something was pulling them in."

"It's like nothing any of us have ever seen," said Bright. "This crevice just opened up, sucked Nemenemi and her manticore in, then sealed itself back up.

"So where's Nemenemi now, then?" asked Mrs. Sorenson. "Has she been imprisoned underneath Fablehaven? Like Bahamut?"

"It's hard to say," said Clover. "Murdred _did_ specifically request for Helwic to banish Kendra to Hell. And while the banishment spell may have hit the... *ahem* wrong target, its purpose and intention should not have been any different."

"I've gotta ask something," said Seth. "Is there really a Hell? I mean, I know the Demon Domain is pretty Hellish in its own right, and that the Netherworld is an afterlife for demons. But is there _actually_ a Hell as we perceive it? I'm talking about an underground inferno where people are tormented by devils with pitchforks?"

Grandpa scratched his chin. "You know. It's hard to say. There's been no concrete proof that it exists. Likewise, there's no proof that it_ doesn't_."

"Well, that banishment spell had to have sent Nemenemi _somewhere_," said Bracken. "Unless she_ really_ _is_ imprisoned in some cave beneath Fablehaven."

"Perhaps, if there isn't actually a Hell," said Grandma, the banishment simply transported Nemenemi to whatever Helwic envisioned as Hell."

"I think Helwic's idea of Hell would be imprisonment in the Fairy Kingdom," said Warren.

"I know how we can find out where Nemenemi may have ended up," said Seth. "I can just look for her using the Occulus!"

Bright sighed. "As good an idea as that may seem, it's always been incapable of locating darkness. Even if she's still somewhere within the mortal world."

"I've always thought of Hell as being some lava-filled cavern deep underground," said Warren. "Real or not, perhaps Nemenemi got sent to a place like that."

"If that even is where Nemenemi wound up," said Ingrid. "How's she supposed to even get out?"

"How would you even _survive_ down there?" asked Seth. "Not only is there no food or oxygen, but the temperature of magma is lethal. Nothing like the lukewarm lava we've encountered throughout the Demon Domain."

"We could be discussing about where Nemenemi ended up all day," said Grandpa. "The truth is, none of us actually know."

"Well," said Bright, "Might I suggest that we enquire about an inspection of the grounds?"

"An inspection?" asked Grandma.

"Yeah. Just to check and make sure that everything here is in order. It wouldn't cause any actual harm, and if there_ is_ something undesirable that was left in the wake of the battle, we'll know about it."

"Also," said Clover, "we don't know the extent of what those bubbles could have done to any of you."

"The bubbles?" asked Seth. "They were pretty terrifying. But I feel fine now. Don't you, Warren?"

Warren nodded. "I think the cure for being inside one of those bubbles is simply getting out."

"We don't know if there are any residual effects thought," said Clover. "And who knows how Skyfrost and Firesquall could react to them."

"Let's head back outside," said Bright. "I'm going back to the Fairy Kingdom to seek assistance. "I'll be back shortly."

Bright then vanished in a cloud of rainbow sparkles.

"Come on," said Bracken. "We can meet up with Bright outside when she gets back."

The group then got up and made their way back outside, to where the battle had taken place.

"How long do you think she'll be?" asked Ingrid.

"She should've asked for the Translocator," said Warren. "Now she's gotta take the long way around by passing through the fairy shrine, finding whomever she's looking for, and having to double back.

As the group waited, a number of fairies gathered around the, along with Stargleam, Windshear and the reindeer. A minute or so later, Bright appeared before the group. Accompanying her were Bravia, Brook, Tiara and Opal.

Once everybody had finished exchanging greetings, the four fairy angels walked up towards the spot where Stargleam and Windshear were standing.

"Who are you?" asked Stargleam, as she bent her head down and gently placed her horn upon Bravia's shoulder. "You seem special. Even for a fairy angel."

"I don't mean to boast," said Brook, "but the two of us really are special. "We're the Fairy Queen's other sisters."

Bravia and Brook both transformed into their unicorn forms. To match their standard fairy colors, Bravia sported a silvery fur coloration, while Brook was crystalline with a blueish hue.

"You're unicorns!" gasped Stargleam. "That's incredible."

Windshear nodded, then spread out both of his wings.

"A pegasus!" gasped Brook. "Brillia mentioned you, but I had to see it to believe it."

"At least you're not alone, Stargleam," said Windshear. "There are no other pegasi out there. Too bad I can't bring good fortune upon myself."

"Don't let it get you down," said Bravia. "Before you came along, we all thought there were no pegasi left whatsoever. Who knows. Maybe there's more out there somewhere."

"And even if there aren't," said Stargleam. "It doesn't matter to me. I care about you regardless of whether you possess wings or a horn."

Bright then cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I brought the four of you fellow fairy angels here for a reason."

"Of course," said Opal. "That _is _why we came."

"Two jobs, actually," said Tiara.

"That's correct," said Bracken. "We need to inspect the grounds for what could have happened to Nemenemi, as well as everybody who had been trapped in one of those bubbles."

"We can split the duties between the four of us," said Bravia. "Tiara, you and I can inspect the mortals. Brook and Opal, check out the grounds."

"Okay," said Brook, as a shimmering blue glow appeared around her body. Likewise, a purple glow suddenly surrounded Opal. The two fairies then held their hands out in front of themselves and proceeded to walk around on the lawn.

"What are they doing?" asked Ingrid.

"They kind of remind me of zombies," said Seth. "The way they're walking."

"Hardly," said Clover, as Brook and Opal continued to saunter across the grass. "They're trying to detect Nemenemi, if she's anywhere to be found at all. Just as a precaution."

"And that leaves the rest of you," said Bravia. "Now, who here was contained within a bubble?"

Seth, Ingrid,Warren and Bracken all held up their hands.

"There was also Firesquall and Skyfrost," said Warren.

"I'll go and get them," said Clover. "Be right back."

Clover then vanished in a cloud of green sparkles. Seconds later, Skyfrost and Firesquall both came soaring towards the group, coming from the direction of their cave. Flying behind them was Clover.

"Okay, we're here," said Skyfrost, as he and his brother landed in front of everybody. "Raxtus and Geminus are taking it easy with Vanessa."

"Boy, that was fast," said Seth.

"We didn't have to travel very far," said Firesquall. "And we _are_ wyverns. This was nothing."

"That's what has us concerned," said Tiara. "You two are wyverns. And with all due respect, wyverns do not normally associate themselves with light or darkness. However, they are aggressive, predatory creatures."

"Hardly," said Seth. "These wyverns are the greatest!"

"They're both very young," noted Bravia. "Their true instinct has yet to develop."

"How old are you two, anyway?" asked Kendra.

"Thirteen," replied Skyfrost. "We're twins."

"Fraternal, no doubt," said Warren.

"Thirteen is very young for dragons," said Bracken. "These two are going to get a _lot_ larger when they grow up. Like Revlogg."

"But I don't want the wyverns to change," said Seth, placing his hand against Skyfrost's wing. "I like them just the way they are."

"It'll take many years for them to mature," said Tiara. "But it'll happen. And there's nothing anybody can do to stop it."

Skyfrost and Firesquall both stared at each other for a moment.

"We won't really become more ferocious, will we?" asked Firesquall.

"What will we do?" asked Skyfrost. "If we get to be too dangerous, we'll have to leave the preserve!"

"We may have to go to one of those dragon sanctuaries," said Firesquall. "Remember what Raxtus told us about Wyrmroost?"

"Calm down," said Clover. "Nobody's going anywhere. At least not for the time being. Look, you all need to be examined to see that the bubbles had no lingering effects on you. And as Tiara was saying, they could be more susceptible to darkness."

Bravia then stood in front of Skyfrost, while Tiara did the same with Firesquall.

"Here goes," said Bravia, as a silvery glow encased her entire body. Tiara nodded, and an orange glow appeared around her.

Bravia then expelled her aura onto Skyfrost, while Tiara did the same with Firesquall. Everyone watched as a silvery glow encompassed Skyfrost's entire body, while an orange glow encased itself around Firesquall.

"Are they okay?" asked Ingrid.

"They'll be fine," replied Bright. "The detection that they're using is harmless."

A moment later, the glowing auras that Bravia and Tiara had conjured up both faded away.

"Everything checks out with Skyfrost," said Bravia. "This wyvern appears to be perfectly normal."

"Ditto for Firesquall," added Tiara. "No lingering traces of dark energy to be found."

"Kendra," said Bravia, "I can do you next."

"Okay," said Kendra, as Bravia stepped up in front of her.

"Bracken, I can check you out," said Tiara, as she walked up to Bracken.

Before Kendra could react, Bravia had exerted her power upon her. The silvery glow felt warm and comforting, causing Kendra to not even worry about what was going on. Even though it wasn't actually doing anything to her, the glow made Kendra feel safe and relaxed. It was a feeling of pure bliss.

Just as Kendra was getting used to the sensation, the aura that Bravia had cast upon her had disappeared. Likewise, Tiara ended the aura she was using on Bracken.

"Kendra, you appear to be perfectly fine," said Bravia. "And if I can be honest, sensing you made me feel all warm and happy inside."

"Really?" asked Kendra. "I kinda felt that way as well."

"You should feel that way," said Bracken. "You're fairykind. Therefore, you and a fairy angel would resonate well with one another."

"Seth, I suppose it's time for you now," said Bravia.

"Great," said Tiara. "You take Seth, and I'll look after Warren."

"But..." muttered Bravia. "This doesn't seem safe. He _is_ a shadow charmer, after all."

"Hello!" said Seth. "I'm standing_ right here_."

"You can do him, Tiara," said Bravia.

"Why, are you afraid?" asked Tiara.

"Fine, forget it," said Seth. "Skip me. We all know I'm trouble."

"All right, all right," said Bravia. "I'll handle Seth. He's a good egg. How bad can he really be?"

Bravia then proceeded to expel her silvery energy onto Seth. Worried that it would had some sort of negative reaction upon him, Seth was relieved to discover that the light energy that Bravia was emitting upon him did not feel harmful in the least. It did feel somewhat tingly, and while it did not give him a feeling of security, Seth did not feel like he was being threatened, either. It was almost as though he was undergoing a neutral feeling.

"Okay," said Bravia, as the glow she was creating around Seth disappeared. "This is quite unusual."

"How so?" asked Tiara, who had just finished with examining Warren.

"Well, I was getting a negative reaction from Seth. I mean, I was detecting a degree of darkness within him, sure. But he's a shadow charmer. So that was to be expected. However, the darkness was not very strong, and it wasn't having any real impact on my light energy. Likewise, my light energy was not quashing his darkness."

"What does that mean?" asked Seth.

"I'm not sure how to say this," replied Bravia. "But it's almost as though the darkness within you has some sort of synergy with light."

"How is that even possible?" asked Bright. "Light and darkness just don't mix. Everybody knows that."

"I don't understand it myself," said Bravia. "But that darkness within Seth, for whatever reason, doesn't trigger a reaction when exposed to light. It's almost as though it contains an immunity of some sort."

"I don't get it," said Ingrid. "What does that mean?"

"If I were to harbor a guess," said Bracken, "based on what my sister is trying to tell us... It's that the darkness within Seth... Isn't really all that dark."

"Does that mean, my darkness is weakening?" asked Seth.

"I wouldn't say it's weakening," said Brillia. "More like... adapting."

"Adapting?" asked Kendra. "To what?"

"Plenty. Seth may be a shadow charmer with powers over darkness. However, every day he is surrounded by fairies and people who are connected with fairies. To cope with this environment, Seth must've somehow developed an immunity to the darkness. On the contrary, this immunity works both ways; fairies are unharmed by the latent darkness within Seth."

"Of course!" exclaimed Seth. "That must be why the fairies haven't been bothering me lately! And why I didn't fall victim to Murdred's elixir when I drank it recently. But... does that mean my darkness is weakening? I don't feel any different."

"It's hard to say," replied Bravia. "There's a lot that I don't understand about darkness. Even less so when it comes to shadow charmers."

"I hope I'm not losing my power or anything," said Seth. "I don't know what it is, but I like being a shadow charmer, thank you very much."

"Your power seems to be intact. It just feels... different."

"Well then," said Tiara. "I guess that just leaves you, Ingrid."

"Okay," said Ingrid.

"This should be interesting," said Bright. "Ingrid may have just been a normal human. But not only was she trapped within one of Nemenemi's bubbles; She single-handedly charged the light crystal!"

"Who knows," said Clover. "Maybe the power influx caused Ingrid to develop some sort of connection to fairies. She might be fairystruck like Warren."

"You mean it?" asked Ingrid.

"Only one way to find out," said Bravia. "Just relax now, Ingrid. This will not hurt you."

Kendra and Seth watched as Bravia encased Ingrid's entire body in a silvery glow.

"After what Bravia found with Seth," said Tiara, "I wouldn't be surprised if she found something unexpected within Ingrid."

Several seconds later, the silvery glow that Bravia was exerting upon Ingrid faded.

"Well, that's it," said Bravia, as she crossed her arms.

"What's it?" asked Ingrid.

"Ingrid. You are perfectly... One-hundred percent... normal."

"Normal?"

"Precisely. You have no residual dark energy within you. Nor do you have any light energy. You are a typical, ordinary mortal human being with no apparent supernatural talents or abilities."

"Really?" asked Seth. "Are you sure?"

"Seth!" snapped Grandpa.

"Everyone, please," said Ingrid. "I'm fine."

"You're okay?" asked Seth.

"Of course I'm okay. Right now, after all that we've been through, I'm just happy to be alive. So what if I don't have any special powers or abilities like the rest of you? I saved us all, and I did it without any spectacular fairy or darkness powers."

"She's got a point," said Warren. "As nice as abilities are, they're all worthless without somebody that can put them to good use. And if anybody can do what Ingrid just did today, I'd say that they're pretty super. Powers or no powers."

"Ingrid," said Seth, as he placed his arms around his adopted sister. "You're incredible."

"Thank you," said Ingrid. "But I can't take all the credit. If I didn't have such a loving family, I might not have had the heart within me to restore the light crystal."

"But you did," said Grandpa. "And that's what makes you just as great as any fairy angel."

"Well, our work here is done," said Opal, as she and Brook walked up in front of the group.

"We've checked the entire proximity of the yard," said Brook. There were no traces of darkness to be found anywhere. The place is clear."

"I guess if we have no further business here, the four of us might as well head back to the Fairy Kingdom," said Bravia.

Bravia, Brook, Tiara and Opal all wished the family goodbye, before they vanished in clouds of colorful sparkles.

"Ingrid," said Seth, "I'm sorry about what I said a moment ago about you not developing any powers. I just thought it would be cool if you had developed some sort of power like Kendra or myself."

"It's okay, Seth," said Ingrid. "I may not have developed any special powers. However, today I managed to develop something even better."

"What's that?" asked Mrs. Sorenson.

"Confidence. Today I developed my confidence."


	34. Outlook

**Chapter 34: Outlook**

The rest of the day had now drawn to a close. Kendra, Seth and Ingrid were all sitting down at a picnic table in the yard. Seth gazed over to the west, where he could see that the sun was now fairly close to the ground, indicating that dusk was about to hit.

"This has been such a long day," said Ingrid, as several reindeer wandered around nearby. One of them stopped in front of Ingrid, allowing her to pet its head.

"I can't believe it," said Kendra. "At one point, I thought it was going to go on forever."

"Well, not only did we pull through," said Seth, "but we made quite an accomplishment. Nemenemi is now who-knows-where, and we finally discovered a way to defeat Murdred."

"Except we didn't," said Kendra. "I was so close, though. Except Nemenemi showed up and threw us all for a loop."

"It's not so bad," said Ingrid. "We still came out on top in the end. And I feel a lot better about myself."

"I know. And as great as that is, I really would've liked for us to have been able to have defeated Murdred while we had the chance."

"We still do have a chance," said Seth. "If we can get that light crystal working again, all we have to do is go back to the Demon Domain one last time, find Murdred and defeat him for good. With no more Nemenemi to worry about, I don't see any real problems."

"You're forgetting," said Kendra. "When Helwic tried to use her super-charged banishment spell on me, I deflected it onto Nemenemi using the light crystal."

"Oh yeah," said Ingrid. "And that fractured it."

"And if the crystal's been fractured, there's no way for it to hold a charge," said Seth.

"Well, Bright and Clover are over at Warren's place, trying to see if they can mend it," said Kendra.

"Speaking of those three, I see them coming this way," said Ingrid, pointing in one direction.

Kendra and Seth looked over, and could see Warren, Clover and Bright walking toward the yard along the path that led to Warren's cottage.

"You think they solved it?" asked Seth.

"I hope so," said Kendra. "Look, Bright's even holding the light crystal in her hands.

Kendra, Seth and Ingrid all watched as Warren and the fairies walked down the path and over to the picnic table where they were sitting.

"Something's wrong," said Kendra. "They don't look too happy."

"Hey, guys," said Ingrid. "Is everything okay?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Bright, placing the crystal down on the table. "Look."

"The crystal," said Kendra. "It's still fractured."

"We've tried everything," said Bright. "But despite our best efforts, nothing seems to work. This crystal just can't be fixed."

"Are you positive?" asked Seth. "Maybe you can get some of the other fairies, or even the Queen, to have a look at it."

"We tried that too," stated Clover. "There's no method or magic out there that can restore this thing. Right now all this thing is good for is a doorstop."

"There's got to be other light crystals out there, somewhere," said Ingrid. "This can't possibly be the last one!"

"It's the only one any of us knew about," said Bright. "And now it's as good as gone."

"But without a functional light crystal," said Seth, "how will be stop Murdred?"

"I don't know," said Warren. "This light crystal seemed like our only hope. And now it's no longer useful."

"What are we supposed to even do?" asked Ingrid.

"Let's not worry about it for now," said Warren. "You kids know when dinner will be ready? I'm starving."

"What _is_ dinner, anyway?" asked Seth, shaking his head.

"No clue," said Kendra.

Ingrid glanced at her watched. "It's almost seven and we still haven't been called in."

"Come on," said Seth. "I've had enough of this bad news. It's chow time."

"Good idea," said Warren. "Food never fails to cheer me up."

The group then got up from the table and walked over towards the front door of the house. They then opened the door and passed through into the foyer.

"Hey, what's for dinner?" asked Seth.

"Uh, we're home," said Warren, who was waiting for a response.

"Mom?" asked Ingrid. "Dad? Anybody?"

"Where is everyone?" asked Kendra.

Bright sighed. "I hope nothing bad has happened to them while we were out."

"It can't be Nemenemi," said Ingrid. "The fairies did a check for her, didn't they?"

"God, I hope not," said Warren, as he stepped into the living room. "This has been such a rough day for all of us. The last thing I need is a..."

"Happy birthday, Warren!" said an eruption of voices, as Grandpa, Grandma, Mr and Mrs. Sorenson and Dale all stood up from behind several sofas and chairs which they had been hiding behind."

Warren dropped his jaw in excitement, as balloons and confetti went flying across the room.

"Your birthday..." said Seth. "I practically forgot all about it!"

"Me too..." muttered Warren. "We've done so much running around these past few days I haven't even had a chance to think about it."

"Even if it wasn't your birthday, we'd still be celebrating," said Dale, as he gave Warren a hug. "You guys just got rid of Nemenemi!"

"If it's my birthday," said Warren, "then there's something I really want. Dinner. Now!"

"Dinner?" asked Grandpa. "Certainly. However, we have too many guests for the dining room, so we'll be eating in the back yard if you don't mind."

"What'd you make for dinner?" asked Seth, as everybody walked through the house and out the back door.

"Nothing," said Grandma. "We got Chinese take-out."

Warren nodded in approval. "Sweet."

"The food's in the kitchen," said Grandpa, as the group walked down from the patio and over towards a long table that had been set with numerous places. "Dale, Scott, would you give me a hand with it?"

Grandpa, Mr. Sorenson and Dale all went back into the house. While they were gone, the dragon family made their way over to one end of the table. Joining them was Mariana, who had hopped out of her pond to be with the family. Also with them were Newel and Doren.

Soon the men had returned carrying several large bags. Before long, the table had been set with an assortment of containers full of various Chinese entrees. Everyone helped themselves to the food. Seth made sure that he got an egg roll, a good-sized helping of sweet and sour pork, some General Tao chicken, as well as the lo mein.

"Man, this is really good," said Ingrid, who appeared to be having some difficulty using her chopsticks.

"Here, let me help you," said Kendra, showing Ingrid how to properly hold the chopsticks she had in her hands.

"As great as this dinner is," said Kendra, "you guys really had us worried when we came in. What if Nemenemi really _had_ gotten to you?"

"Kendra," said Bright. "Brook and Opal combed the area thoroughly. Although they were unable to determine as to where she wound up, or how exactly she got there, they're confident that she's nowhere nearby. That banishment spell that Helwic hit her with was probably a one-way trip."

"Would she ever come back?" asked Ingrid.

"Impossible to tell for sure," replied Clover. "But, it's highly unlikely that she would return. Especially if she travelled such a long way. And that's only _if _she survived the banishment in the first place."

"Thanks for the grub!" said Doren.

"This is better than junk food!" exclaimed Newel, who was gnawing on a honey garlic spare rib.

"You guys are totally welcome," said Warren.

"Hey, let's give some of this food to Stargleam and Windshear," said Seth. "And the reindeer, too!"

"Forget it," said Dale. "I admire your thoughtfulness. But animals like them can't handle food like this. Besides, the reindeer are on a special diet."

"So, Nemenemi may be gone," said Kendra. "But what about Murdred? He's still alive, and we failed to destroy him while we had the chance."

"It's hard to say," said Grandpa. "The good news is, who you've discovered, Murdred isn't very interested in looking for another disciple anymore. And if he's unable to increase his power, it's unlikely that he'll come back for us anytime soon."

"Not only that," said Bracken, "but aside from vengeance, we don't really have any reason to go back to the Demon Domain and deal with Murdred so fast anyway. We no longer possess the power to properly vanquish him, and there's nothing he has that we need. Going after him would probably be little more than a waste of our time. Not to mention the high risk that venturing into the Demon Domain would bring."

"But what about the relics?" asked Seth. "Right now we still only have the Sapphazure and the Emerock. What about the other three?"

"Well, we don't actually know," replied Warren. "Thing is, we don't have any information as to where the others are hidden. Even that book that Murdred had only led us to the Sapphazure."

"Wait a minute," said Ingrid. "Who cares about the relics? I mean, the only one we wanted in the first place was the Necromaster, so that we could kill Murdred. If he's not in a position to come after us, and we have no way of finding the Necromaster, what do we have to worry about?"

"You've got a point, Ingrid," said Grandpa. "We can still try to uncover information on the missing relics. Because who knows, maybe we'll get lucky. But I personally wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Yeah," said Seth. "I guess as long as we don't need them, there's no real reason for us to try and find the other relics. Mind you, I'd rest easy knowing that we could find the Necromaster and use it to destroy Murdred."

"Where do we go from here?" asked Ingrid.

"Well..." began Grandpa. "I'm not really sure. There's no immediate threat to be dealt with. And there's no practical way of dealing with the villains either. On top of that, we are unable to locate any more relics. I'd say that your adventures have come to an end. For the time being, at least."

"Aww. Just as things were starting to get good, too," muttered Ingrid, shaking her head.

At that moment, Grandma, who had gotten up at some point, was currently walking towards the table, holding a large birthday cake with flaming candles in her hands. She started to sing _Happy Birthday _to Warren, prompting the rest of the family to join in.

"This looks delicious," said Warren with a smile, as Grandma placed the cake down in front of him. It was decorated in chocolatey frosting and green icing.

"Of course it's delicious," said Grandma. "Who do you think baked it?"

Warren closed his eyes and proceeded to blow out the candles.

"What did you wish for?" asked Seth.

"I can't tell. But I didn't wish to know where the other relics could be. I'll say that much."

Warren then started to cut the cake up into slices and placed them all onto plates. Meanwhile, Dale scooped spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream onto the plates and passed them around the table.

The cake was scrumptious. Seth and Kendra savoured every bite, and Seth found himself unable to resist asking for a second slice.

"There's also fortune cookies," said Dale, as he opened up a takeout box, took out a cookie for himself and passed the box down the table.

Seth cracked open his cookie and read the paper that was inside. "Opportunity is waiting beyond the horizon," he said, reading his fortune aloud.

"Here's mine," said Ingrid. "Friends are irreplaceable. Cherish them."

Everyone read their fortunes to the group, but the rest of them weren't quite as remarkable.

"I think it's time for presents," said Grandpa, as he handed a wrapped box over to Warren. "Kendra, your present is here, too."

"Nice," said Warren, as he started to open up the package.

Warren proceeded to open up presents from Kendra, Grandpa, Grandma, Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson, the dragons, the satyrs, Bracken, Bright and Clover. They mostly consisted of things like clothes, cologne, a box of chocolate bars, a new computer and a watch. The fairies had all given Warren a platinum chain necklace with a star-shaped emerald embedded in the centre.

"This is really something," said Warren, admiring the necklace.

"It's from all of us," said Clover, as she kissed Warren. "Fairies and dragons. Happy birthday, dear."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Seth. "I forgot about my present!"

"I've got it," said Dale, handing a small package to Warren. "This is from both Seth and myself.

Warren opened the packed and pulled out a tiny basket full of the purple berries that had been growing in the greenhouse.

"Are these..." began Warren.

"Yup," replied Seth. "I save the seeds of those berries we found in the past. And Dale cultivated them. Enjoy! There's more where those came from!"

"Nice!" said Warren, popping a berry in his mouth, before passing the basket around the table, offering them to the rest of the family.

Seth watched as Ingrid ate her berry, but noticed that she still seemed sad. "Ingrid, don't you like the berry."

"Oh," she replied. "It's great. Don't get me wrong. But... I'm the only one here who didn't get Warren a present."

"Ingrid," said Warren. "That's okay. These presents mean nothing compared to what really matters. Being here with my family and friends. That's better than any present. Besides, I got plenty of presents anyway."

"I know. But, I just wanted to fit in. This family is still new to me and nothing's ever going to change the fact that I'm... different than the rest of you."

"We don't think you're _different_," said Mrs. Sorenson. "Compared to Kendra and Seth, you're the most _normal _of our children."

Ingrid smirked.

"Well, Ingrid," said Warren, "if you really do want to fit in with us a little better, I've got something for that!"

Warren then whispered something into Clover's ear, and she nodded back at him.

Clover then snapped her fingers, causing Warren's sword to magically appear in his hands.

"Warren!" exclaimed Grandpa. "No weapons at the table!"

Warren rolled his eyes. "It's still in its sheath, Stan. Ingrid, I'm going to be getting you a present. It'll be a sword, similar to my own."

"Really?" asked Ingrid, as Warren presented his sword to her.

"Yup. I don't actually have one for you, but until then, you're welcome to get some practice in with mine if you'd like."

Warren. I don't know what to say."

"There's always _thank you_," said Warren.

"Thank you," said Ingrid, as she proceeded to hold up the sword.

"Ingrid," said Grandpa. "Would you please put that thing down!"

"Sorry, Grandpa," said Ingrid, placing the sword down on the ground next to her chair.

The family then spent some time talking amongst each other. Afterwards, the party transitioned itself over to the pool, where everybody went for a swim, including the dragons and Mariana.

"It's so nice that we were able to open the pool," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Yeah," said Grandma. "Right around now is when we usually open it."

"Another summer is coming," said Mr. Sorenson. "They say it's supposed to be be pretty hot this year."

"Mariana really likes the pool," said Kendra. "Is the chlorine in the water safe for her gills?

"Reptiles like us can handle chemicals like that," said Raxtus. "Although I'm not really sure what a _chlorine _actually is."

"If Firesquall's body can tolerate fire," said Seth, "what's a little chlorine gonna do to him?"

Ingrid laughed. "This party has been so much fun! It's like the encounter with Murdred was just a bad dream."

"Regrettably, it happened," said Kendra.

Sometime after the sun had gone down, everybody got out of the pool. Newel and Doren returned to the forest, Mariana to her pond, Warren and Clover to their cottage and the dragons to their lair. Kendra and Seth watched as Stargleam and Windshear both walked off into the forest together, nuzzling their muzzles together. The family then went back inside the house and everybody got ready for bed.

As he walked back from the bathroom, Seth stopped in front of Ingrid's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came Ingrid's voice from the other side.

Seth entered the room and saw Ingrid lying on her bed.

"Hey, Seth."

"Ingrid, there's something I want to tell you about... well... you."

"Really? What?"

"Well, today you really proved yourself. I don't know what it is."

"Seth, I know what I did today was special," said Ingrid. But... it sounds like you're trying to tell me something, only you don't know how to put it into words."

Seth sat down on Ingrid's bed. He looked across the room and saw Warren's sword leaning against her dresser. "You going to practice with that thing sometime?" he asked.

"Yes. But I still think that you have something you want to tell me."

"Ingrid..." said Seth. "I..."

"What is it?"

Without responding, Seth threw his arms around Ingrid's shoulders and gave her a hug.

"Seth, thank you!"

Not knowing what came over him, Seth then kissed Ingrid on her cheek.

"Seth?"

"Ingrid, I don't know what it is. But after the way you acted today. I think... I'm in love with you."

Ingrid stared at him blankly. "Love?"

"Look, I know it seems weird. I mean, you are my sister. But you're also my foster sister. So there's no blood relation."

"I know," said Ingrid.

Seth sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that... I haven't had much luck finding love. I admired Bright after I first met her, but she wasn't really my type. Then there was Sarah, and we all know where that went. But you... you and I really get along. I'm sorry to pounce on you like this..."

"Seth, I understand. I really like you too."

Seth took in a deep breath. "Ingrid, I've got to ask you this. Will you be my girlfriend? Or at least... consider it?"

"Well... Sure! I mean, the two of us love each other. And even though we're siblings, like you said, there's no blood relation. So I wouldn't have a problem with it if you don't."

"Really?" asked Seth. "Thank you, Ingrid! You've made me so happy!"

"I have a feeling we'll be making ourselves happy a lot more," said Ingrid with a grin. "But for starters, let's have a _real_ kiss."

Ingrid then kissed Seth on his lips, pressing against his face for several seconds.

"Thank you," said Seth, as he hugged Ingrid. "And remember that I like you just the way you are?"

"Because I'm not fairykind or anything unusual like that?""

"Nah! I love you because you're _not_ unusual. And you're courageous! And you want to learn how to defend yourself! What's there _not _to like?"

"Seth," said Ingrid. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Ingrid," said Seth, as he stood up and made his way over to the door. "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Seth," said Ingrid, as Seth flicked off her light and closed his door as he left the room.

**The End**

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm not sure when I'll get around to writing a follow-up, as I need to properly plan it out before I get started, and I don't know when it'll be ready. But I'll try to get around to it eventually. =D**


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